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Duke   University  Libraries 

Report  of  the  S 
Conf  Pam  l2mo  #768 

D^0f33Lf07Y 


PtEFORT 


OF    THE 


SECRETARY  OF  WAR. 


Confederate    States  of  America,      ) 

War  Department,  \ 

Richmond,  Nov.  26,  1863.    ) 

To  His  Excellency  Jefferson  Davis.  President,    7.  S.  A. 

Sir  :   I  have  the  honor  to  submit  the  following  report : 

During  the  past  year,  the  war  has  raged  with  increased  violence, 
and  on  more  extended  arena.  From  central  Pennsylvania  to  southern 
Texas,  the  shock  of  arms  has  been  felt  in  many  battles,  on  a  grand 
scale,  and  in  numberless  engagements,  varying  from  the  conflicts  of 
thousands  to  the  ekirmishes  of  a  few. 

Such  extended  warfare,  as  was  almost  inevitable,  from  the  superior 
members  and  more  abundant  resources  of  the  enemy,  has  been 
chequered  by  some  reverses,  as  well  as  illustrated  by  not  a  few  bril- 
liant victories  and  glorious  achievements. 

These  events  are,  at  the  same  time,  too  vivid  in  remembrance,  and 
too  near  in  occurrence,  to  make  nee  Iful  or  appropriate  their  full  re- 
cital. To  illustrate  the  sustained  glory  of  our  arms,  it  will  fully  suffice 
to  recall,  in  the  east,  the  victory,  against  all  odds  of  numbers  and 
position,  at  Chancellorsville,  the  capture  of  Winchester,  the  invasion 
of  Pennsylvania,  closing  with  the  grand,  but  indecisive  battle  of 
Gettysburg,  where  the  glorious  successes  of  two  days'  combat  barely 
failed  on  the  third  of  being  crowned  by  a  crushing  defeat  to  the  enemy, 
and  inflicted  such  heavy  loss  as  enabled  our  gallant  army,  with  many  of 
the  ends  of  the  movement  accomplished,  to  retire  unassailed  and  de- 
fiant within  our  limits. 

In  the  South,  the  complete  repulse,  at  Charleston,  in  the  spring,  of 
the  grand  attack  by  sea,  made  with  the  plated  ships  and  guns  of  un- 
precedented   calibre  and    range,  which    the    arrogance    of   the    foe 


imagined  must  overpower  all  resistance,  has  been  followed,  in  the  re- 
newed attack,  conducted  now  by  land  and  sea,  by  the  bloody  repulse 
at  Wagner  and  Sumter,  which  last,  reduced  to  a  pile  of  crumbling 
ruins,  yet  harbors  resources  and  heroic  men,  that  keep  in  distant  awe 
and  impotent  malignity  the  enemy,  with  all  his  ingenuity  of  land  and 
naval  war. 

In  the  far  west,  beyond  the  Mississippi,  the  valor  and  patriotism  of 
our  soldiers  have  been  signalized  by  achievements,  which,  though  on 
a  less  grand  scale,  lose  not  in  glory  by  comparison  with  any  triumphs 
of  the  Avar.  If  we  have,  then,  to  report  the  loss  of  the  Arkansas 
Post,  and  the  repulse  at  Helena,  we  have  to  glory  in  the  hard  fought 
battle  of  Prarie  Grove;  at  the  skillful  evasion  of  an  overpowering 
force  in  lower  Louisiana  ;  the  steady  resistance  and  judicious  stra- 
tegy that  enabled  a  force  wholly  inadequate  to  a  direct  encounter,  yet 
to  harass,  pursue  and  finally  to  expel  the  hordes  of  the  enemy.  Then 
at  the  brilliant  success  of  Brashear  City,  Milligan's  Bend,  and  many 
minor  affairs  that  asserted  again  the  supremacy  of  our  arms  in  western 
Louisiana. 

Texas,  meantime,  has  been  preserved  intact,  feeling  the  step  of  the 
foe  only  to  expel  him  with  shame  and  blood  in  the  repulses  at  Galves- 
ton and  Sabine  Pass,  which,  for  the  results  obtained  by  limited  means, 
have  been  rarely  matched  in  history. 

The  gravest  reverses  of  the  year  have  been  sustained  by  us  in  Missis- 
sippi, and  resulted  in  the  capture  of  Vicksburg  and  Port  Hudson  with 
their  garrisons;  in  the  partial  command,  l;y  the  enemy,  of  the  Missis- 
sippi river,  and  the  temporary  evacution  of  Jackson,  the  capital  of 
the  State,  by  our  remaining  forces.  Yet,  these  were,  to  the  enemy, 
bloody  acquisitions,  and  to  us  errors  not  unredeemed  by  much  of  glory 
and  vengeance.  Port  Hudson  and  Vicksburg,  by  the  gallantry  and 
constancy  of  their  defence,  fully  sustained  the  renown  of  their  pre- 
vious deeds  ;  and  the  repeated  efforts  of  the  vastly  superior  forces  of 
the  enemy  to  snatch  their  prizes  by  violence,  ended  only  in  fearful 
lc3S  and  shameful  rcut.  Our  brave  soldiers  succumbed  only  to  priva- 
tion and  exhaustion.  And  whatever  may  have  been  the  loss  to  the 
country,  they,  at  least,  lost  not  honor. 

The  campaign  in  Mississippi  was  certainly  disastrous  ;  and  with  the 
forces  and  resources  collected  in  the  State,  it  is  difficult  to  resist  the 
impression,  that  the  disasters  were  not  enevitable.  Their  causes,  and 
whether  attributable  to  any  deficiencies  in  prescience,  skill  or  valor  on 
the  part  of  either  commanders  or  their  troops,  it  is  felt  to  be  inappro- 
priate here  to  discuss,  as  under  a  just  sense  of  what  is  due  to  all  con- 
cerned, as  well  as  to  the  Confederacy,  a  court  of  inquiry  has  been  in- 
stituted to  make  full  investigation  of  the  whole  campaign.  It  met; 
but  its  session  has,  in  consequence  of  military  events  occurring  in 
ito  vicinity  and  demanding  the  presence  of  witnesses  and  judges  at 
other  points  of  duty,  been  temporarily  suspended.  It  is,  however,  ex- 
pected soon  to  resume  and  complete  its  enquiries.  Justice  requires 
judgement  to  be  suspended  by  all,  until,  from  such  acknowledged  au- 
thority, facts  and  conclusions  can  be  attained. 
.   ^These  events  caused  great  exultation  and  renewed  confidence  to 


the  enemy,  who  imagined  they  had  sundered  the  Confederacy,  an  : 
secured  the  unlimited  command  and  free  navigation  of  the  Mississippi 
river,  the  great  conduit  of  western  trade,  while  readily  a  corres- 
ponding shock  of  despondency  and  foreboding  of  the  consequences  to 
ensue  from  the  capture  of  so  many  brave  soldiers,  and  the  loss  of 
command  over  the  river,  and  the  means  of  ready  communication  with 
the  west,  affected  the  public  mind  of  the  Confederacy. 

As  results  develop  themselves,  the  exultation  and  the  depression 
are  found  to  have  been  alike  exaggerated.  The  gallant  soldiers  cap- 
tured, after  brief  furloughs,  having,  by  exchanges,  declared  out  of 
the  excess  of  prisoners  tefore  so  largely  made  by  us,  been  released 
from  their  paroles,  are,  for  the  most  part,  already  reorganized  and 
equipped,  and  now  stand  ready,  with  their  approved  valor  and  con- 
stancy, to  meet  the  invader  of  their  country. 

The  communication  with  the  trans-Mississippi,  while  rendered  some- 
what moie  precarious  and  insecure,  is  found  by  no  means  cut  off,  or 
even  seriously  endangered. 

This  cannot  well  be  otherwise,  when  it  is  recollected  how  difficult 
it  is  to  guard,  by  gunboats  or  troops,  hundreds  of  miles  of  river  bank, 
if  even  securely  possessed  by  the  enemy,  and  how  wholly  impractica- 
ble when  on  both  sides,  for  the  greater  portion  of  the  distance,  the 
possession  is  with  our  own  troops  or  people.  Besides,  the  resources 
of  the  trans-Mississippi  are  such  as  to  make  it  self-sustaining  ;  and 
against  any  fjree  which  the  enemy,  while  engaged  in  their  desperate 
struggle  with  the  States  on  this  side,  can  spare  for  attack  on  those 
beyond,  it  is  not  extravagant  to  say,  that  they  have  better  means  of 
resistance,  and  greater  assurance  of  final  success  than  the  rest  of  the 
Confederacy.  This  department,  too,  in  view  of  the  contingency  of 
losing  command  of  that  river,  has  been  endeavoring  to  ail  the  self- 
sustaining  capacities  of  that  section,  by  the  establishment  of  works 
for  the  production  of  all  supplies  needful  for  the  maintenance  and  ef- 
ficiency of  its  armies.  To  these  considerations  may  be  added,  that  a 
general,  among  the  ablest,  the  most  zealous  and  judicious  the  Confed- 
eracy can  boast,  is  happily  entrusted  with  the  command  ami  improve- 
ment of  their  resources,  and  enjoys  the  full  confidence  of  the  govern- 
ment, the  people  and  the  army.  With  circumstances  thus  favorable, 
the  people  of  the  trans-Mississippi  States  have  only  to  manifest  the 
energy,  courage,  and  devotion  to  the  common  cause  of  the  ConfVdi 
which  have  signalized  them  in  the  past,  to  dissipate,  as  well  among 
themselves,  as  their  more  eastern  brethren,  needless  apprehensions. 

The  hopes  of  the  enemy  have  proven  more  illusive  than  the  fore- 
bodings of  our  people.  The  Mississippi  river  is  not  opened  to  them 
for  the  purposes  of  trade  or  travel. 

Without  a  stronghold  on  the  river  where  heavy  guns  may  be  placed 
or  defended,  we  may  not  debar  passage  to  their  vessels  of  war.  But 
with  the  command  of  long  stretcheB  of  the  river  bank,  and  ready  ac- 
cess to  nearly  all  parts,  it  would  be  strange,  indeed,  if  we  allowed  se- 
curity or  impunity  to  their  boats  of  trade  or  passage.  The  river  is 
nowhere  so  wide  that  sharpshooters,  even,  cannot  prove  formidable,  and-, 
batteries  of  light  artillery,  sustained  by  small  detachments  of  cavalry,. 


4 

mcy  almost  absolute] y  command  its  channel.  The  frequent  bends  of 
its  course,  opening  the  boars,  despite  all  side  defences,  with  their 
boilers  and  machinery,  to  a  raking  fire,  and  the  wooded  coverts  that 
yet  li'ie  many  miles  of  its  banks,  give  facilities  and  efficiency  to  such 
modes  of  attack.  Above  all,  except  as  a  mere  outlet  to  the  gulf,  for 
the  solid  advantages  of  trade,  which  have  been  so  realised  in  the  past, 
and  are  now  as  longingly  anticipated  by  the  States  of 'the  Federal 
Union  on  the  northern  Mississippi,  and  its  tributaries,  the  river 
must  have,  in  its  lower  course,  a  friendly  people,  engaged  in  the  avo- 
cations of  peace  and  productive  industry,  and  not,  as  now,  a  desolated 
and  deserted  region,  occupied  only  by  men  maddened  by  accumulated 
wrongs,  and  eager  for  every  means  and  opportunity  of  retribution. 
The  folly  of  these  vain  expectations  must  soon  be  acknowledged, 
and  rr.aj  contribute  to  dissipate  the  wilder  delusion  that  the  Confede- 
racy can  be"  subjugated,  and  the  ends  of  unity  and  peace  be  obtained 
by  violence  and  oppression. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  people  of  the  Confederacy  have  been  enabled'  , 
to  realize,  how  little,  with  courage  and  constancy  on-  their  part,  their 
fate  is  determined  by  even  signal  reverses,  and  by  the  loss  of  single 
strongholds,  however  jelatively  important.  While  material  injuries 
are  freely  admitted  to  have  resulted  to  the  Confederacy  from- the  disas- 
ters in  Mississippi,  yet  some  real  benefits  have  undoubtedly  accrued1 
from  the  compulsory  abandonment  of  fixed  points  of  defence  on  the 
river.  In  view  of  the  superior  numbers  of  the  enemy,  and  the  larger 
appliances  of  war  enjoyed  by  them,  the  necessity  of  defending  special 
strategic  points  may  justly  be  deprecated,  since  it  retains  stationary 
a  large  force,  and  offers  a  wager  of  battle  against  all  odds,  in  which 
the  result  is  less  to  be  determined  by  valor  and  skill,  than  by  accu- 
mulated numbers  and  the  improved  armaments  of  modern  warfare,  in 
which  alone,  circumstances  gives  them  unquestionable  advantage.  In 
the  extent  of  our  territory,  and  the  absence  of  vital  centres,  the  mo- 
bility of  our  troops  gives  for  our  defence  advantages  more  than  com- 
pensatory, and  is  therefore  ever  to  be  preferred.. 

The  loss  of  Port  Hudson  and  Vicksburg  has,  on  our  side,  liberated, 
for  general  operations  in  the  fiell,  a  large  army,  while  it  requires  the 
enemy  to  maintain,  cooped  up,  inactive,  in  positions  insalubrious  to 
their  soldiers,  considerable  detachments  from  'heir  forces. 

Nor,  in  a  country  not  accessible  by  inland  waters,  where  their  gun- 
boats can  penetrate,  are  they  enabled,  from  their  garrisoned  points,  to 
establish  control  or  dominion  over  any  extended  district.  This  is  il- 
lustrated in  Mississippi,  where,  after  having  overrun,  amid  the- dismay 
inspired  by  our  reverses  there,  a  large  proportion  of  the  State,  they 
have  now  been  constrained  to  release  and  send  off  their  forces,  until 
they  control  little  more  than  the  ground  their  garrisons  rest  on,  while 
the  experience  of  their  recent  ravages,  and  the  insulting  presence  of 
a  hated  foe  on  their  soil,  are  rousing  to  fiercer  indignation  and  resist- 
ance, the  people  of  the  State. 

In  Tennessee  the  campaign  has  been  conducted  with  more  varied 
fortunes.  The  deficiency  of  resources  in  men  and  provisions,  rather 
than  reverses  in  battle,  during  the  summer,  compelled  the  withdrawal 


of  our  array  from  middle  Tennessee  to  the  South  side  of  the  Tennes- 
see river,  where  for  a  long  time,  they  hold  at  bay  the  superior  forces 
of  the  enemy.     At  length,  with  large  reinforcements  and  the  combi<* 
nation   of  a   formidable   army  advancing  from   Kentucky,  the  enemy 
moved  on  the  one  side  to  possess  east  Ten  and  on  the  other  to  cut 

off  our  larger  army  under  Gen  Bragg.  The  necessity  of  concentrating 
forces  to  encounter  the  main  attack,  left  ea*t  Tt-nnessee,  with  feeble 
defence,  to  rely  chiefly  on  the  stronghold  that  guarded  the  main  pass 
of  the  mountains.  Unaccountably,  and  under  circumstances,  which 
would  force  suspicion  of  cowaniice  or  treachery,  but  for  th 
satisfactory  explanation  from  the  commander,  now  a  prisoner  to  the 
enemy,  this  almost  impregnable  post  was  surrendered  without  a  s'rug- 
gle  In  consequence,  east  Tennessee  came  easily  into  the  pos*  issioa 
of  the  enemy  ;  but  when  their  invading  forces,  attempting  to  press 
their  advantage,  advanced  towards  southwest  Virginia,  th<  v  were 
successfully  encountered  and  repelled  by  our  forces  in  that  quarter. 
Meantime,  the  grander  aim  of  the  enemy  to  cut  off  the  army  of  Gen. 
Bragg  had  been  evaded  by  a  quick  withdrawal  towards  his  base,  and 
having  received  considerable  reinforcements  from  the  veteran  army  of 
northern  Virginia,  General  Bragg  advanced  in  turn  on  his  purs 
Once  again,  the  superior  prowess  of  our  arms  was  established  on  the 
bloody  field  of  Chickamauga,  in  what  ranks  among  the  grand  !3t  vic- 
tories of  the  war.  Its  immediate  effects  were  to  relieve  all  the  more 
southern  States  from  rhe  dread  of  invasion  and  ravage,  and  to  hold 
invested  under  privation  and  suffering  the  dismayed  and  shattered 
remnants  of  the  enemy's  grand  army  of  the  West.  Its  ulterior 
results  yet  await  development,  and  may  bring  recovery  of  the  soil  and 
deliverance  to  the  people  of  a  most   important  portion  of  Tennessee. 

From  the  achievements  of  our  army  the  transition  is  natural  to  its 
numbers,  condition,  and  prospects 

The  labors,  perils  and  sacrifices  of  the  past  year  could  not  fail  to 
exact  losses  from  its  glorious  ranks.  Time  and  the  occasion  forbid 
more  than  a  passing  allusion  to  the  heroic  dead,  whose  deeds  and 
their  memory  constitute  the  glory  of  the  present,  as  they  will  the 
proudest  inheritance  of  future  generations.  To  the  foremost  of  the 
illustrious  throng, .resting  in  the  immortal  I  ity  of  assured  fame,  more 
special  reference  may  be  demanded  by  just  appreciation  of  his  heroic 
qualities  and  eminent  services,  and  by  the  saddened  hearts  of  the 
people  of  the  Confederacy,  who  mourn  the  death  cf  their  chosen 
champion,  stricken  by  "an  accursed  chance/'  in  the  hour  when  the 
prowess  of  a  stroke  of  daring  and  generalship,  just  accomplished,  had 
opened  the  way  to  crowning  victory.  Without  disparagement  to 
others,  it  may  be  safely  said,  he  had  become,  in  the  estimation  of  the 
Confederacy,  emphatically  "  the  hero  of  the  war."  Around  him 
clustered  with  peculiar  warmth,  their  gratitude,  their  affections,  and 
their  hopes.  His  deeds  had  approved  him  a  warrior  of  the  highest 
order,  as  the  whole  tenor  of  his  life,  in  peace  as  in  war,  had  shown 
him  the  very  type  and  model  of  the  Christian  and  hero.  From  the 
first  battle  of  Manassas,  when,  by  his  firmness  and  invincible  will, 
he  earned  the  title  now  indissolubly  connected  with  his  name,  down 


6 

to  the  brittle  of  Chancellorsville,  where  his  dauntless  valor  struck  its 
final  and  most  decisive  blow,  he  was  identified  with  almost  every 
"important  movement  and  brilliant  victory  in  Virginia.  He  had  lived 
long  enough  to  reap  a  full  harvest  of  fame,  and  to  have  become  an 
example  to  his  countrymen  and  the  admiration  of  the  civilize  1  world. 
But  to  the  Confederacy  his  loss  is  felt  to  be,  not  only  irreparable, 
because  the  memory  of  his  deeds,  and  the  spirit  he  inspired  glow 
through  the  hearts  of  its  armies  to  anim-ite  to  noble  emulation  and 
Kindred  deeds  of  valor,  patriotism,  and  self  devotion.  The  blool  of 
such  a  martyr  to  the  cause  of  southern  liberty  and  independence 
canonizes  it  to  the  faith  and  devotion  of  all  its  defenders,  and  consti- 
tutes a  resistless  appeal  to  the  sympathies  of  mankind  as  to  the  justice 
of  God,  against  the  foul  aggressions  of  our  invaders. 

Our  army  may  be  less  in  the  number  of  effectives  present,  but,  in 
every  other  respect,  is  believed  to  be  superior  to  its  condition  at  the 
close  of  the  last  year.  The  men  are  more  veteran,  indurated  to  all 
the  hardships  and  exposures  of  a  soldiers'  life,  familiar  with  danger,  and 
confident  in  themselves  and  their  officers.  Their  discipline  is  improved, 
and  while  their  fiery  valor  is  unabated,  their  firmness  and  constancy 
may,  under  all  circumstances,  be  more  confidently  relied  on. 

The  officers,  through  the  tests  to  which  they  have-been  exposed,  and 
the  purgation  effected  by  the  aid  of  examining  boards, -have  been 
rendered  more  efficient  and  capable.  Altogether,  whether  the  char- 
acter, valor,  efficiency,  and  morale  of  the  men  and  officers  be  regarded, 
it  is  but  simple  justice  to  them  to  assert,  that  they  have  never  been 
surpassed,  if  ever  equalled,  by  any  like  number  of  troops,  in  the 
records  of  modern  warfare.  It  only  remains,  that  their  numbers 
should  be  increased  and  kept  up  to  the  standards  required  by  their 
organizations,  to  give  assurance  of  their  invincibility,  and  the  early 
triumph  of  our  cause.  It  becomes  important  to  consider  the  sources 
whence  such  increase  of  numbers  may  be  drawn. 

The  first  means  to  be  adopted  naturally,  is  to  bring  back  to  the 
army  the  large  and  undue  proportion  of  men,  who,  from  the  provis- 
ional character  of  the  army  from  the  vicinity  and  temptations  of  their 
homes,  under  the  trials  of  early  service,  and  in  a  more  relaxed  state 
of  discipline,  have  deserted,  and  straggled  from  their  colors. 

The  effective  force  of  the  army  is  generally  a  little  more  than  a  half, 
'never  two-thirds,  of  the  numbers  in  the  ranks  From  the  absentees, 
•considerable  allowance  is  doubtless  to  be  made  for  those  disabled  by 
wounds  and  sickness,  to  whom,  as  the  law  makes  as  yet  no  adequate 
provision,  discharges  have  not  been  granted.  It  may  yet  be  safely 
assumed  that  one  third  of  our  army,  on  an  average,  are  absent  from 
their  posts,  and  may,  with  due  efforts,  be  re'urned.  The  best  means 
for  the  accomplishment  of  this  end,  it  is  believed,  will  be  found  in 
some  agencies,  to  be  added  to  the  service  for  the  enrollment  and  col- 
lection of  conscripts.  They  will  be  more  naturally  suggested  in  con- 
nection with  the  consideration  which  will  be  given  to  that  branch  of 
the  service. 

The  classes  liable  to  conscription  constitute  the  natural  aliment  for 
ithe  support  and  increase  of  the  army.     During  the  most  trying  period 


of  the  past  campiign,  when  reverses  and  capture?  so  gre.uly  dimin- 
ished our  forces  in  one  important  department,  it  was  deemed,  expedient 
to  subject  to  the  call  for  conscription  those  between  the  ages  of  forty  and 
forty-five.  Thus,  the  male  population  between  the  ages  of  eighteen 
and  forty-five,  with  the  exception  cf  such,  as  under  existing  laws,  are 
exempt,  or  have  put  in  substitutes,  are  liable  to  military  service.  It. 
is  difficult  to  give,  with  accuracy,  the  number,  who,  under  the 
action  of  the  conscript  law,  have  been  brought  into  our  armies,  and 
still  more,  those  who  yet  remain  to  be  called  into  the  field.  The  law, 
it  will  be  recollected,  gives  to  all  the  privilege,  before  being  enri 
of  volunteering  into  the  companies  they  may  prefer.  And  as  calls 
have  been  made,  a  large  prop  )  tion  of  those,  who,  under  it,  hive  come 
into  service,  have  availed  themselves  of  this  privilege,  and  thus  do 
not  come  under  the  cognizance  of  the  conscribing  officers,  or  on  the 
lists  of  enrolment.  On  the  nearest  approximate  estimate  that  can  be 
made,  it  is  believed,  that  to  every  one  assigned,  there  have  been  three 
volunteers.  The  number  assigned  during  the  past  year  in  Virginia, 
amounts  to  some  five  thousand,  and  hence,  the  addition  to  the  army 
from  that  State,  would  be  some  twenty  thousand  men,  supposing,  as 
there  is  no  reason  to  doubt,  that  other  Sutes  have  done  as  well,  some 
eighty  to  one  hundred  thousand  men  should  have  been  added  to  our 
forces.  Yet,  with  so  serious  an  addition,  our  armies  have  not  fully 
maintained  their  strength  in  numbers.  This  affords  a  startling,  but, 
it  is  feared,  not  an  incorrect  view  of  the  waste  by  sickness,  casual- 
ties of  battle,  captures,  desertions  and  discharges. 

The  resources  of  supply,  from  collection  of  deserters,  and  from 
conscription,  must  evidently  diminish  as  the  service  becomes  more 
active,  and  the  numbers  are  exhausted;  and  it  cannot  bo  confidently 
expected  that  they  can,  during  another  year,  increase,  or  even  main- 
tain our  army  in  its  present  numbers.  Yet  the  enemy  is  making 
every  effort,  and  scrupling  at  no  means,  to  raise  to  overwhelming 
numbers  his  already  superior  forces.  One  draft  for  three  hundred 
thousand  men  is  scarcely  finished,  with  results,  indeed,  but  little  sat 
isfactory  to  him,  before  another  call  for  a  like  number  is  male.  The 
army  of  the  Confederate  States,  it  is  clear,  must  be,  at  least,  main- 
tained, and,  if  practicable,  even  increased.  Oar  final  tiiuuiph  ai  1 
independence  must  else  be  precarious,  and  consequences  worse  than 
ever  via  ted  a  conquered  people,  may  be  our  hateful  and  enduring  lot. 
All  means  within  our  reach  to  swell  our  armies  should  unhesitatingly 
be  employed. 

The  able-bodied  men  between  eighteen  »nd  forty-five  years  of  age, 
constitute,  naturally,  the  active  force  for  the  field,  and  would,  proba- 
bly, suffice,  and  be  as  numerous  as  the  means  and  products  of  the^ 
country  would  equip  and  sustain*  It  seems  to  have  been  the  scheme 
of.  the  conscript  law,  that  all  such  should  be  sa  devoted  to  active 
service;  but  the  provision  allowing  substitutes,  and  the  exemption 
law,  have  exonerated  considerable  numbers  and  classes.  Both,  it  is 
submitted,  should  be  repealed. 

The  law  allowing  substitutes  has  proved  a  means  for  depleting  the 
army,  while  it  has  done  more  than  any  single  measure  to  excite  dis- 


8 

content"  and  impatience  under  service  among  the  soldiers.  The 
persons  received  as  substitutes  have  proved,  for  the  most  part,  wholly- 
unreliable  ;  have,  in  many  cases,  only  entered  to  desert,  and  often, 
elsewhere,  again  to  make  sale  of  themselves,  with  a  view  to  like  shame- 
ful evasion  ;  while  the  fact  that  the  wealthy  could  thus  indirectly 
purchase  liberation  from  the  toils  and  dangers  necessary  for  the 
defence  of  the  very  means  that  gave  them  the  privilege,  and  of  the 
country  itself,  naturally  produced  among  the  less  fortunate  and  poorer 
classes,  repining  and  discontent. 

The  men  thus  exonerated,  too,  were,  from  the  advantages  of  posi- 
tion and  learning  they  had  enjoyed,  among  the  most  spirited  and 
reliable  of  our  soldiers,  who  had  shrunk  rather  from  the  hardshipa 
than  the  perils  of  a  soldier's  life.  The  law  is  deservedly  regretted  and 
reprobated  by  all  acquainted  with  its  operation.  It  is  earnestly 
recommended  that  it  be  at  once  repealed,  and  that  all  who  have  enjoyed 
its  benefits  be  now  again  subjected  to  the  sacred  duty  of  defending  in 
arms,  their  property,  their  liberties,  and  their  country.  No  objection 
of  law  and  justice  precludes  this,  while  every  consideration  of  policy 
and  equity  commands  it. 

The  fiberty  to  put  in  a  substitute,  as  it  was  given  by  act  of  Con- 
gress, may,  regularly  and  constitutionally,  be  abrogated  by  the  same 
instrumentality.  There  has  been  no  compact,  as  has  been  alleged, 
between  the  soldier  or  conscrpt,  exempting  himself  by  putting  in  a 
substitute,  and  the  government.  It  is  nothing  more  than  a  privilege, 
which  from  grace  or  policy,  the  government  has  acorded  to  him  ;  and 
instead,  of  complaining  at  its  abrogation,  he  ought  to  be  grateful  for 
the  measure  of  exemption,  which  he  has  been  allowed  to  obtain.  But 
it  may  be  insisted,  that  there  is  a  contract  existing,  if  not  between 
the  government  and  the  principal,  yet,  at  least,  between  the  principal 
and  the  substitute,  of  which,  though  made  on  the  faith  of  an  existing 
law,  the  former  loses  all  benefit  when  he  is  reclaimed  to  service. 

Were  this  the  correct  view,  it  would  be  better  for  the  government 
that  it  should  return  to  the  principal  a  fair  proportion  of  the  sum  ex- 
pended by  him,  in  obtaining  his  substitute,  in  all  cases  in  which  such 
bubstitute  has  adhered  to  his  engagement,  and  not  cheated  the  Gov- 
ernment pf  the  service  to  which  the  contract  bound  him,  than  to  allow 
the  further  exoneration  of  the  principal. 

But  in  reality,  the  just  view  of  the  matter,  seems  to  be,  that  when- 
ever a  call  is  made  on  certain  j  rescriled  classes  for  military  duty, 
the  privilege  of  substitution  only  exempts  from  that  call,  and  neither 
Can,  nor  ought  to,  liberate  the  principal  from  the  paramount  duty,  ever 
incumbent  on  every  citizen,  as  a  patriot  soldier,  to  defend  his  country. 
The  principal  when  called,  by  having  kis  substitute  accepted,  is  ex- 
onerated from  service  under  that  calk  only  ;  and  if  he  enjoys  that,  has 
the  full  consideration  for  the  contract  he  has  made,  whether  with  the 
government  or  his  substitute,  he  falls  back  into  the  body  of  citizens, 
end  becomes  one  of  the  militia  of  the  country,  liable  like  all  others 
to  be  summoned  on  other  exigencies,  and  upon  further  calls  to  mili- 
tary service.  In  his  exemption  from  service  under  the  special  call 
which  his  substitute  meets,  he  has  enjoyed  his  full  privilege,  or  if  it 


be  contract,  has  received  his  stipulated  consideration  ;  a  further  call 
may  not  be  made;  future  exigencies  may  not  demand  more  levies  for 
the  army;  peace  may  be  obtianed,  and  then  his  exemption  will  have 
proved  complete,  ami  have  been  gained  by  the  substitution.  He,  fill- 
ing back  into  the  militia,  as  every  citizen  liable  to  military  duly,  takes 
hances  of  future  calls  and  future  necessities.  He  is  subject  to  be 
again  called,  whenever,  in  the  judgment  of  the  Congress,  having 
power  to  determine*  the  service  of  himself  an  1  any  others  is  isfc- 

ry  for  the  public  defence.  Such  need,  it  is  submitted,  now  < 
and  the  class  of  principals,  as  well  as  all  others  constituting  the 
militia,  being  under  the  paramount  obligation,  neither  to  I 
or  bargained  against,  of  military  service  to  the  State,  may  be 
moned  to  the  field.  A  man  can  no  more,  by  privilege  grant.'  or 
contract  made,  escape  tin;  paramount  obligation  of  defending  his  coun- 
try from  invasion  and  ruin,  than  by  promise  or  purchase  ol  .  solu- 
tion, he  can  evade  the  duty  of  obedience  to  God.  This  view  of  the 
right  of  the  Government  to  claim  such  service  is  submitted,  rather  to 
remove  scruples  which  have  been  imagined*  to  exist  on  the  part  of 
;re8S  in  authorising  the  call,  than  to  obviate  difficulties  to  bo  an- 
ticipated from  the  class  of  principals.  It  is  confidently  believed  their 
courage,  zeal  and  patriotism  will  disdain  all  paltry  quibbling  to  evade 
their  country's  call,  and  that  by  prompt  response  in  that  country's 
need,  yill  they  manifest  their  appreciation  of  their  own  highest  duty, 
and  their  alarcity  to  meet  whatever  of  peril  or  sacrifie  it   may   entail. 

No  records  exist  which  will  furnish  the  precise  number  of  pi  in 
who  may  thus  be  recalled  to  service.      The  best  conjectural  computation 
plac  s  t lie  number  throughout  the  Confederacy,  at  not  less,  certainly, 
than  fifty  thousand  men,  of  an  age  and   class  calculated    to  make   ap- 
proved soldiers. 

The  classes  covered  by  the  exemtion  law,  may  also,  it  is  believed, 
be  advantageously  abridged.  The  aim  of  the  law  seems  to  have  been 
to  exonerate  only  a  sufficient  number  of  experts  in  various  profes- 
sions, trades  ami  mechanical  pursuits  to  meeet  the  requirements  of 
society,  but  as  the  mole  of  effecting  this,  in  various  instances,  all  of 
special  trades  or  pursuits  have  been  exempted,  the  consequence  has 
been,  that  a  larger  number  of  persons,  more  in  various  localities 
than  are  needed  by  the  requirements  of  the  country,  have  been  re- 
lieved from  service.  This  has  caused,  some  natural  dissatisfaction 
among  those  whose  services  are  exacted  in  the  field,  as  well  as  it 
has  operated  to  the  diminution  of  the  numbers  liable  to  conscription; 
A  wiser  course,  it  is  believed,  would  be  to  rend  r  all  within  the  pre- 
scribed ages,  capable  of  bearing  arms,  subject  to  conscription,  and 
allow  details  to  be  granted  from  the  professions  and  mechanical  pur- 
suits to  the  extent  that  may  be  necessary  for  the  industrial  wants  of 
society.  A  considerable  number  might  thus  be  added  to  the  army 
without  unduly  impairing  the  necessary  supply  of  skilled  labor  for 
the  needs  of  the  country. 

Another  means  of  replenishing  the  army,  would  be  bv  lessening 
or  withdrawing  the  details  which,  from  time  to  time,  have  been  made 
from  the  army  and  from  conscripts,  for  the  works  and  various  opera- 


10 

tions  of  the  Government.  It  lias  been  the  policy  and  earnest  effort 
of  this  department  to  make  them  as  limited  as  possible  ;  but  still  they 
have,  under  the  unceasing  demands  of  all  branches  of  the  service 
swollen  to  a  number  that  constitutes  a  serious  abstraction  from  the 
army.  One  great  cause  of  the  number  thus  required,  has  been  the 
exceptional  state  of  the  market  for  labor  caused  by  the  enhancement 
of  prices  and  the  paucity  of  laborers.  The  comparatively  few  men 
who  are  at  command  for  hire,  claim,  and  can  obtain  wages  that  almost 
preclude  their  employment  by  the  Government,  and  besides  as  the 
public  works  have  to  be  carried  on  by  laborers  assembled  in  consid- 
erable numbers,  and  in  many  instances,  as  at  mines,  salt-petrc  caves, 
and  the  like,  at  distant  points,  the  men  above  conscript  age  having, 
for  the  most  part,  families  and  settled  abodes  are  reluctant  to  render 
their  services,  for  any  rewards.  The  only  remedy  that  is  seen  for 
this,  would  be  the  extension  of  the  claim  of  service  by  Government 
to  a  greater  age,  and  allow  details  from  those  not  now  subject  to  mili- 
tary call.  Priority  would  thus  be  afforded  to  the  Government  in  the 
command  of  laborers,  and*  when  it  was  thus  distinctly  recognised  by 
them  as  their  contribution  to  public  defence,  and  in  lieu  of  the  mili- 
tary service  exacted  of  them,  it  would  be  acquiesced  in  without 
dissatisfaction. 

To  some  extent,  likewise,  the  necessity  of  details  might  be  obviated  by 
some  organized  system  of  impressingorengaging  the  laborof  free  negroes 
and  slaves,  where  they  could  be  made  available.  The  effort  to  do  this,  by 
the  temptation  of  interests  of  owners,  has  been  generally  found  to  be 
unavailing.  In  many  of  the  Government  works,  where  the  unskilled 
labor  of  slaves  would  be  most  available,  exposure  to  the  seductions  or 
attacks  of  the  enemy,  are  dreaded  by  owners,  who  are  averse  to  having 
them  removed  from  their  personal  supervision  and  influence.  To 
command  slaves,  therefore,  in  anything  like  the  number  required  for 
the  many  works  of  Government,  to  which  they  could  be  applied,  com- 
pulsion, in  some  form,  would  be  necessary, 

The  use  of  negroes  may,  likewise,  swell  the  number  of  men  in  arms  in 
the  field,  by  substituting  teamsters,  books,  and  other  camp  employees, 
who  are  now  largely  supplied  from  the  ranks.  This  policy  has,  here- 
tofore, met  the  approbation  of  Congress,  and  been  embodied  in  the 
act  approved  April  21,  1862.  No  provision,  however,  was  made  to 
procure  the  negroes  for  these  offices,  and  from  the  causes  mentioned, 
although  their  utility  has  been  recognized,  they  could  not  be  obtained 
by  voluntary  engagements  of.service  or  hire  from  their  owners. 

There  may  be  difficulties  and  embarrassments  in  enforcing  the  ser- 
vice of  slaves,  but  they  might  be  overcome,  on  the  principle  of  im- 
pressing them  as  property,  or  of  requiring  contributions  from  their 
owners  of  certain  quotas,  for  public  service,  as  has  been  done  for 
works  of  public  defence.  The  wickedness  and  malignity  of  our  ene- 
mies have  certainly  placed  considerable  numbers  of  negroes,  almost  of 
necessity,  at  the  control  of  our  Government.  To  favor  the  pusila- 
nimity  of  their  people,  as  well  as  the  better  to  advance  the  nefarious 
ends  of  their  unjust  warfare,  they  have  adopted  as  their  deliberate 
policy  the  emplojTnent  of  the  slaves  as  soldiers  in  their  army.     They 


11 

have  already  formed  numerous  regiments  of  the  Blares  they  haw 
seduced  or  forced  from  their  masters,  and  the  statement  has  been 
boastfully  made  i.i  their  public  prints  that  they  have  already 
thirty  thousand  negro  troops  in  arms.  It  is  now  an  ascertained  fact, 
that,  as  they  overun  any  portion  of  our  territory,  they  draw  off — often 
by  compulsion — the  most  efficient  male  slaves,  and  place  them  in  their 
negro  and  when  they  have  established  any  where  a  tem- 

poral-; •  ,  they  practice  a  regular  system  of  compi 

cruitin g   from  the  slaves  within  their  reach.      N  fore, 

for  th  -e  of  preserving  to  the  Confederacy  this  valuable  labor, 

thus   abstracted,  but  from  the  plainer   necessity  of  preventing    the 
enemy  from  recruiting  their  armies  with  our  owi  i'.es  a 

clear  obligation,  on  the  military  authorities  of  the  Confederacy,  t<> 
remove  from  any  district  exposed  to  be  occupied  or  overrun  by  th% 
enemy,  the  effective  male  slaves.  Were  there  any  white  population 
within  our  country  so  affected  to  the  enemy  as  to  afford  recruits  to 
their  army,  there  could  be  neither  doubt  nor  delay  in  removing  them 
to  a  secure  distance  on  the  approach  of  hostile  forces,  and  surely  the 
obligation  is  even  more  clear  in  regard  to  the  slaves,  whose  employ- 
ment by  the  enemy,  as  soldiers,  converts  them  from  valuable  laborers 
into  savage  instruments  of  an  atrocious  Avar  against  our  people  and 
their  institutions.  All  n  ale  slaves  capable  of  arn  . 
should,  on  the  approach  of  the  enemy,  be  at  once  removed  by  military 
authority,  to  more  secure  districts,  where  they  may  be  reclaimed 
by  their  masters,  or.  on  their  failure  to  do  so.be  employed,  on  reason- 
able terms  of  hire,  by  the  Government.  In  this  way,  it  is  probable,  a 
large  number  of  efficient  negroes  may  be  obtained  to  supply  the  de- 
tails from  the  army  for  all  unskilled  labor,  and  also  to  liberate  for 
arms  the  soldiers  now  engaged  in  unwarlike  duties  in  the  trains  and 
camps  of  our  armies.  While  it  may  be  difficult  to  ascertain  the  pre- 
cise numbers  that  may,  from  these  various  sources,  be  thrown  into  our 
armies,  there  can  be  no  doubt  they  would  1  e  swelled  considerably  be- 
yond their  present  numbers,  and  constitute  an  army  lamer,  as  well  a° 
more  effective,  than  any  we  have  yet  mustered.  In  view  of  the  in- 
creasing repugnance  "of  the  enemy,  to  furnish  recruits  to  th<  ir  army, 
and  the  failing  hopes  it  indicates,  it  is  almost  certain  that  man  si 
tion  of  Btrength  and  resolution  on  the  part  of  the  people  of  the  Con- 
federacy would  soon  be  decisive  of  the  struggle.  When  all  the  dis- 
astrous consequences  of  long,  wasting  warfare  are  weigh  I,  and  the 
mighty  issues,  to  ourselves  and  our  posterity,  dependent  on  our  suc- 
are  realized  and  it  is  apparent  our  people  have  only,  with  united 
wills,  and  8  supreme  effort  to  put  forth  their  entire  strength, to  assure 
the  prize  Of  peace  and  independence,  should  there  be  misgiving,  or  hes- 
itancy even,  in  adopting  all  the  means  requisite  to  summon  forth 
the  full  number  of  our  population  of  age  and  ability  for  arms,  and  to 
hurl  them  against  the  invading  foe  ?  The  onlyinquiry.it  is  hoped, 
will  be  for  the  agencies  that  can  most  speedily  accomplish  the  desired 
marshaling. 

The  organization  already  engaged  in  the  execution  of  the  conscript 
law,  may,  with  some  slight  modifications,  be   readily  made   available. 


12 

With  its  officers,  it  now  extends  to  all  portions  of  the  Confederate 
States,  and  by  systematized  action,  it  may  be  rendered  as  available  to 
collect  stragglers  and  deserters,  to  give  information  of  the  details 
that  may  be  spared,  and  of  the  laborers,  whether  free  or  slave,  that 
may  be  commanded  to  fill  the  places  of  the  soldiers  returned  to  ser- 
vice, as  to  enrol  conscripts,  and  the  exempts  arid  principals  who  may 
be  again  recalled  to  military  service.  One  addition  may  be  required 
to  give  it  fuller  efficiency.  As  or'ginally  designed,  the  law  was 
expected  entirely  to  enforce  itself  by  its  prestige  and  the  sanction 
of  public  sentiment.  Every  man.  en  being  enrolled  and  summoned 
to  his  duty,  was  expected  promptly  to  respond,  and  no  adequate 
means  of  compulsion  were  incorporated.  This,  in  the  main,  has  been 
sufficient,  as  among  a  free  people  ready  obedience  to  law — especially 
a*  law  for  the  public  defence — might  be  expected  ;  and  the  appearance 
of  compulsion,  particularly  by  military  authority  was  to  be  depre- 
cated as  both  unnecessary  and  revolting.  But  as  the  war  has  been  real- 
ized in  all  its  trials,  repugnance  and  recusancy,  have,  in  some  limited 
portions  of  country,  been  manifested  occasionally  to  the  call  of  the 
conscribing  officers;  and  when  desertion  and  straggling  have  added  in 
those  districts,  numbers  of  lawless  and  desperate  men,  there,  have 
been  combinations  and  organizations  for  open  resistance  to  the  regu- 
lar action  of  the  law.  It  is  always  best  to  overcome  such  evils  in 
their  inception,  and  to  prevent  such  lawless  feelings  from  coming  to 
the  head  of  open  violence  and  insurrection.  There  has,  therefore, 
been  found  the  necessity,  at  times,  of  small  supporting  forces  to  aid 
and  enforce  the  execution  of  the  l$w,  both  of  conscription  and  for 
the  arrest  of  deserters.  Such  forces  could  only  occasionally,  and  at 
intervals,  be  spared  from  the  armies  in  the  field  ;  and  it  is,  therefore, 
found  expedient  to  organize,  of  non-conscripts  and  the  least  available 
of  the  conscripts,  local  or  temporary  organizations,  which  could  be 
more  constantly  employed  in  arresting  deserters,  and  collecting  the 
conscripts.  A  regiment  or  battalion  in  each  State  would  probably 
suffice  for  the  full  accomplishment  of  these  ends  ;  and,  while  under 
tli3  general  laws  already  existing,  a  few  companies  have  been  organ- 
ized and  are  thus  employed,  it  might  be  well  to  have  more  special 
authority  of  law  for  the  constitution  and  employment  of  .  such 
limited  forces  by  the  officers  of  the  conscript  service. 

One  of  the  subjects  demanding  early  attention  is  to  make  provision 
respecting  the  troops  whose  term  of  service  will  expire  during  the 
ensuing  spring  and  summer.  The  number  is  considerable.  Accord- 
ing to  the  records  of  the  Adjutant  and  Inspector  General's  office, 
three  hundred  and  fifteen  regiments  and  fifty-eight  battalions  contain 
more  or  less  of  those  whose  original  term  of  service  having  been 
for  twelve  months,  either  rn-enlisted  for  two  years,  or  were  em- 
braced within  the  operation  of  the  act  of  April  16th,  1862.  That 
act  authorized  the  re-organization  of  the  regiments,  battalions,  squad- 
rons, and  companies  within  its  scope,  which  was  completed — once  for 
all.  And  though  the  individual  soldiers,  composing  such  organiza- 
tions in  a  grea  er  or  less  degree,  be  entitled  to  their  discharge  from 
them,  the   organization   itself    h   not  disturbed  or   broken    up,    but 


13 

remains  the  more  or  less  a  skeleton  according  to  the  numbers  of 
those  discharged. 

It  is  earnestly  recommended  that  these  organizations  be  not  broken 
up  by  any  legislative  action.  Gieat  injustice  would  thereby  be  done 
to  the  gallant  officers  who  have  been  tested  in  every  way;  the  inspir- 
iting associations  and  prestige  of  courage  and  success  attached  to  the 
existing  organizations  vouldbelost.  Should  new  organizations  be  au- 
thorized, much  injury  would  be  done  to  theservice,  by  the  unsettled  feel- 
ings, discontents,  and  aspirations,  and  the  demoralization,  in  order 
ind  discipline,  which  follow  general  electioneering  throughout  a  com- 
mand. These  evils  were  so  vividly  realized  in  the  re -organization  of 
the  twelve  months  men,  and  operated  so  harshly  on  many  of  the  best 
officers  in  the  service,  that  their  renewal  is  most  earnestly  depreca  ed. 

The  men  whose  tonus  of  service  would  thus  expire,  cannot  finally 
be  discharged  from  the  service.  The  country  needs  their  assistance 
for  defence  against  our  oppressors.  Under  the  preseut  law,  they 
would  have  the  privilege  of  selecting  their  companies.  But  the  exi- 
gencies of  the  service  may  advise  a  modification  of  the  privilege  of  se- 
lecting the  existing  companies  in  which  to  serve,  before  eurolraent, 
80  as  to  restrict  it  to  a  company  of  the  same  arm  of  the  service,  other- 
wise, a  partiality  for  certain  branches  of  the  service,  as,  for  instance, 
the  artillery,  the  di  sire  of  change,  of  trying  a  new  sphere  of  action, 
so  natural  to  the  individual,  may  operate  to  impair  seriously,  if  not 
destroy,  the  efficiency  of  one  or  move  arms  of  the  service,  while  others 
might  be  increased  beyond  all  proper  pr.  portion  for  usefulne* 

The  necessary  legislation  is  therefore  recommended,  to  retain  in 
service  all  those  between  the  ages  of  eighteen  and  forty-five,  at  the 
close  of  their  present  terms  of  enlistment,  with  the  privilege  of  se- 
lecting beforehand  an  existing  company  in  the  same  arm.  in  which  to 
serve,  preserving  the  present  organizations,  with  their  officers,  to  be 
ii lied  up  by  such  selections  and  the  assignments  of  enrolled  conscripts. 

From  peculiar  circumstances  or  influences,  some  of  the  present 
organizations  will  be  greatly  reduced  in  numbers  ;  and  to  place  them 
in  a  proper  co  of  efficiency  will   furnish  an  additional  reason 

for  the  adoption  of  the  means  suggested  to  increase  the  numbers  of 
our  troops,  especially  of  recalling  to  seivice  the  principals  who  have 
furnished  substitutes. 

In    BOme   instances,  doubtless,   the   reduction  of  existing  organiza- 
tions will  compel  the  necessity  Of  consolidating  them.    This  furni 
an  additional   reason   to  some  hereafter  produced,  for  the  bestowal  of 
this  power  upon  the  department. 

The  law  providing  boards  to  determine  the  competency  of  officers, 
has  operated  xcrv  favorably,  both  to  secure  efficiency,  and  to  promote 
improvements  among  all  aspiring  officers  and  men.  It  has  done  much 
to  obviate  the  evils  anticipated  from  the  system  of  election  and  pro- 
motion in  the  provisional  army,  when  so  few  had  the  benefit  of  pre- 
vious learning  or  experience.  Still,  the  policy  of  elections  at  all 
may  be  well  questioned,  since  inseparable  from  it  arises  an  undue  re- 
gard to  popularity,  especially  among  the  non-commissioned  officers, 
and  a  spirit  of  electioneering,  subversive  of  subordination   and  disci- 


14 

pline.  Promotions  by  seuiority,  too,  as  th-e  rule,  may  -be  judicious, 
but  it  might,  considering  the  number  of  officers  who  have  no  military 
education,  be  advantageously  varied  with  a  largo  latitude  to  selection. 
Boards  to  test  competency  instead  of  being  casual  and  nt  discretion, 
should,  it  is  thought,  examine  every  officer  on  his  promotion  by  seni- 
ority. The  universality  of  the  test  would  thus  deprive  it  of  that  ap- 
parent invidiousness  which  often  prevents  its  application.  In  that 
certainty,  too,  would  be  found  a  greater  incentive  to  constant  prepa- 
ration on  the  part  of  all  junior  officers.  It  might  be  expedient  to  ex- 
tend to  those  boards  a  wider  power  of  recommendation,  so  that  they 
might  not  be  restricted  to  determining  merely  the  competency  of  those 
before  thern,  but  m'ght  make  recommendations  of  more  efficient  offi- 
cers, whether  in  or  out  of  the  special  organiz  lion,  giving-,  however, 
preference,  on  an  approach  to  equal  qualifications,  to  the  former.  In 
determining  the  competency  of  officers,  the  boards  have  extended 
their  inquiries  to  physical  disabilities.  In  consequence,  many  officers, 
whose  gallant  services  are  attested  by  their  wounds,  or  whose  health 
has  been  broken  down  by  the  privations  or  exposures  of  service,  are 
honorably  retired,  and  thus  deprived  of  their  commissions.  The  effi- 
ciency of  the  service  may  be  thus  promoted,  but  ever;;  feeling"  of  grat- 
itude and  justice  revolts  at  such  reward  for  wounds  and  sickness  re- 
ceived in  the  service  of  the  country.  From  such  feelings  it  often 
happens  tint  there  is  no  call  of  a  board  in  cases  of  disability,  and 
then  the  position  of  the  disabled  officer  cannot  be  filled  in  the  field, 
and  the  road  to  promotion  is  effectually  blocked  to  the  junior  officers. 
This  state  of  things  is  often  felt  by  gallant  officers  under  disability 
with  such  honorable  sensibility,  that  even  without  adequate  provision 
for  their  own  maintenance,  they  feel  bound  to  resign.  Nor  can  relief 
from  this  painful  necessity  be  given  by  assigning  them  to  posts  or 
other  duties  than  those  of  the  field.  For  only  by  virtue  of  their  com- 
missions can  such  assignment  be  made  and  held  ;  and  their  retention 
of  the  commission  debars  their  juniors  in  the  field  from  advancement, 
and  leaves  their  command  without  the  necessary  complement  of  offi- 
cers. All  this  results  from  the  feature  incident  to  the  organization 
of  the  provisional  army  that  the  commission  is  restricted  to,  and  de- 
pendent upon  the  spe<  ial  organization.  To  obviate  the  serious  mis- 
chiefs resulting,  it  is  recommended  that  all  officers  disabled  by  wounds  . 
or  sickness  incurred  in  tho  service  should  be  honorably  retired,  and 
severed  from  connection  with  their  special  organizations,  but  be  al- 
lowed, during  the  war,  to  retain  their  rank  and  pay.  They  would  thus 
be  available,  as  far  as  their  disabilities  for  field  service  would  permit, 
for  posts  and  other  light  duties,  and  might,  without  injury  to  the 
service  in  the  field,  be  scarcely  less  useful  to  the  country  in  less  ex- 
posed, but  still  important  positions.  Some  measure  of  relief  in  these 
cases  will  be  promotive  of  the  efficiency  of  the  army  in  the  field, 
while  it  is  imperatively  called  for  by  the  simplest  justice  to  the  brave 
officers,  who  have  been  shattered  in  health  or  maimed  in  body,  in 
noble  discharge  of  patriotic  duty. 

In  connection  with  the  subject  of  these  boards,  it  seems  appropriate 
to  invite  attention  to  the  number  of  reports  proceeding  from  them. 


15 

and  to  the  onerous  duty  which  is  imposed  on  the  Executive  to  examine 
and  decide  on  all  which  retire  or  dismiss  officers.  With  other  arduous 
labors,  of  even  more  importance,  it  is  not  physically  possible  that  the 
proceedings  should  receive  from  the  Executive  a  consideration  that  is 
desirable  for  just  revision.  A  like  remark  applies  to  the  many  cases 
from  courts-martial  and  the  military  courts,  which  are  sent  up  or 
brought  by  appeal  to  Executive  clemency,  to  the  eonsiderati  n  of 
this  Department  and  the  President.  At  the  same  time,  a  painful 
responsibility  attaches,  in  all  these  cases,  which  will  not  allow  them  to 
be  lightly  treated.  To  obviate  the  difficulty,  it  is  recommended  that 
an  officer,  in  the  nature  of  a  judge  advocate,  be  appointed  specially  to 
xamine  all  such  cases,  and  to. make  leport  on  all  that  require  the 
exercise,  finally,  of  Executive  discretion.  Some  measure  of  this 
kind  should  be  adopted,  or  the  approvals  of  the  commanders  in  the 
field  be  made  final,  except  on  direct  appeal,  within  reasonable  time,  to 
the  Executive. 

In  reference  to  the  cavalry,  under  the  system  of  requiring  the  men 
to  furnish  their  own  horses,  it  is  becoming  daily  more  difficult,  and, 
it  is  feared,  will  soon  become  impracticable,  to  keep  mounted  a  suffi- 
cient number  for  effective  service.  Under  the  advance  in  pi  ice,  and 
the  increasing  scarcity  of  suitable  horses,  few  have  the  ability  to 
supply  themselves,  while  the  contingencies  of  active  and  exhausting 
service,  often  on  inadequate  forage,  too  frequently  imposes  the  neces- 
sity. The  difficulty  is  enhanced  by  the  limited  range  of  casualties 
for  which  provision  of  payment  is  made — only  those  "killed  in 
action." 

The  difficulty  of  procuring  horses  is  also  becoming  almost  equally 
applicable  to  officers.  The  law  of  the  provisional  Congress,  making 
provision  for  the  payment  for  horses  killed  in  battle,  did  not.  accord- 
ing to  the  received  construction,  embrace  officers.  This  was  probably 
owing  to  the  liberal  rate  at  which,  with  existing  values,  their  pay 
was  fixed.  In  consequence,  they  would  receive  no  allowance  what- 
ever for  horses,  even  when  killed  in  battle,  had  not  a  law  of  the 
United  States,  embraced  in  the  general  re-enactment  of  the  provi- 
sional Congress,  allowed  them  compensation,  not  exceeding  in  any 
case  the  sum  of  two  hundred  dollars  for  the  horse.  The  chani:-1  which 
the  increase  of  prices  has  made,  partially  in  the  rate  of  pay.  as  also 
in  the  price  of  horses,  renders  it  beyond  the  ability  of  many  to  pro- 
cure suitable  steeds  when  dismounted.  Justice,  as  well  as  the  interest 
of  the  service,  urges  the  correction  of  these  evils,  and,  it  is  suirsested, 
either  that  the  system  be  changed  and  horses  be  furnished  by  the 
Government  to  both  officers  and  men,  with  a  disallowance  of  the  com- 
pensation granted  for  the  service  or  loss  of  the  horse,  or  that  provi- 
sion be  made  to  pay  all  officers,  as  well  as  men,  the  appraised  values 
of  their  horses,  when  lost  by  any  of  the  actual  contingencies  of  ser- 
vice, and  not  through  remisness  or  neglect. 

The  advantages  anticipated  from  the  allowance  of  corps  of  partizan 
rangers,  with  peculiar  privileges  of  prize  to  stimulate  their  zeal  and 
activity,  have  been  very  partially  realized,  while  from  their  indepen- 
dent organization  and  the  facilities  and  temptations  thereby  afforded 


16 

to  license  and  depredation,  grave  mischiefs  have  resulted.  They  have . 
indeed,  when  under  inefficient  officers,  and  operating  Vithin  our  own 
limits,  come  to  be  regarded  as  more  formidable  and  destructive  to  our 
own  people  than  to  the  enemy.  The  opportunities,  too,  afforded 
them  of  profit  by  their  captures,  as  well  as  the  lighter  bonds  of 
discipline  under  which  they  are  held,  serve  to  dissatisfy  the  trained 
soldiers  of  the  provisional  army,  who,  encountering  greater  perils  and 
privations,  are  denied  similar  indulgences.  There  are  certainly  some 
honorable  exceptions  to  the  general  estimite  thus  held  of  the  partisan 
corps,  and,  in  several  instances,  partizan  leaders  have  distinguished 
themselves  and  their  corps  by  services  as  eminent  as  their  achieve- 
ments have  been  daring  and  brilliant.  They  constitute  only  notable 
exceptions,  and  experience  of  the  general  inefficiency  and  even  mis- 
chief of  the  organizations,  would  recommend  that  they  either  be'merged 
in  the  troops  of  the  line,  or  be  disbanded  and  conscribed.  To  pre- 
serve the  few  that  are  valable  coadjutors  to  the  general  service,  a 
discretion  may  be  entrusted  to  the  Department. 

The  military  courts  have  been  found  to  operate  beneficially  on  the 
morale  and  efficiency  of  the  army.  They  have  dispensed  with  the 
necessity  of  such  frequent  details  of  officers  from  their  regular  duties 
for  courts  martial,  and  from  their  disconnection  with  the  rivalries  and 
interests  of  the  line,  as  well  as  their  larger  experience  and  superior 
qualifications,  have  generally  secured  a  larger  measure  of  satisfaction 
to  their  judgments.  As  the  courts,  under  the  existing  law,  are  each 
separately  constituted,  the  members  cannot,  under  temporary  exigen- 
cies, be  interchanged  or  assigned  from  one  court  to  another.  Incon- 
veniences have  sometimes  resulted  from  this,  when,  from  any  cause,  it 
was  desirable  some  member  should  not  sit  in  a  particular  case,  or 
when  some  members  of  a  particular  court  were  detained  by  sickness, 
or  some  other  reason,  and  from  inability  to  supply  their  places,,  the 
court  is  rendered  inoperative.  As  a  remedy,  it  is  proposed  the  Exe- 
cutive be  authorized,  at  any  time,  to  assign  judges  from  one  court  to 
another,  as,  in  his  judgment,  the  service  may  require.  And  a  similar 
authority  to  detail  field  officers  as  members  of  the  court,  in  temporary 
exigencies,  might  be  given  to  the  commanders  of  corps  or  departments, 
as  is  granted  them  by  the  law  creating  such  courts,  to  detail  an  officer 
to  perform  the  duties  of  the  judge  advocate  in  case  of  his  absence  or 
disability. 

For  the  due  complement  of  staff  officers,  the  powers  reposed  by  law 
in  the  Executive  seem  adequate,  with  one  exception.  The  appoint- 
ment of  quartermasters  and  commissiaries,  for  service  in  the  field,  ha* 
never  been  extended  beyond  brigades,  and  consequently,  no  such  offi- 
ce! s  can  be  directly  appointed  for  divisions,  corps,  or  an  entire  army. 
The  experience  of  the  service  indicates,  that  for  every  army  a  chief 
quartermaster  and  commissary,  in  direct  communication  with  the 
general,  through  whom  the  general  supplies  and  movements  of  the 
army  may  be  arranged  and  directed,  are  essential.  So  also  as  corps, 
and  even  divisions,  have  often,  in  the  operations  in  the  field,  to 
operate  separately,  sometimes  at  considerable  distances  apart,  almost 
as  separate  armies,  for  like  uses,  to  them  a  principal  quartermaster  and 


17 

• 

commissary  are  always  important,  and  at  tioae3,  indispensable.  Tho 
necessity  of  the  case  has,  therefore,  led  the  generals,  under  their  dis- 
cretionary control  over  all  the  officers  of  their  commands,  to  with- 
draw or  assign  from  their  brigades,  quartermasters  and  commissaries 
to  act  for  the  army,  the  corps  and  divisions,  and  as  such  assignment 
proved  continuous,  their  places  have  not  unfrequently  been  fillei  as 
vacancies  by  new  appointments  to  the  brigades.  Indeed,  this  has 
become  a  practice  so  recognized,  that  Congress,  in  one  of  its  acts,  ha? 
seemed  by  its  reference  to  division  quartermasters  to  have  given  to  it 
an  implied  sanction.  The  Department,  however,  has,  in  the  absence 
of  express  law,  felt  an  embarrassment  in  either  making  such  appoint 
ment,  or  in  giving  to  the  officers  assigned  rank  appropriate  to  their 
superior  position,  and  more  extended  duties.  It  is  suggested  that 
such  difficulties  had  better  be  removed  by  direct  authority  for  the 
appointment  and  assignment  of  such  officers,  with  rank  determined  by 
the  dignity  of  the  commands  to  which  they  are  to  be  attached. 

For  the  more  effective  organization  of  the  army,  it  will  be  neces- 
sary to  have  the  power,  when  companies  or  regiments  are  reduced  in 
numbers  below  a  certain  complement,  to  consolidate  and  organize  there, 
anew.  This  is  a  necessity  greatly  to  be  regretted,  for  many  honora- 
ble associations,  as  well  as  the  prestige  of  courage  and  success  attach*  I 
to  the  old  organizations,  make  it  alike  matter  of  feeling  and  poli 
retain  them.  Justice  to  th>  many  gallant  officers,  who,  by  such  con- 
solidations, must  lose  their  commissions,  likewise  increases  the  repug- 
nance to  the  proceeding.  With  most  of  the  organizations  contributed 
from  the  States  where  the  conscript  law  can  be  enforced,  it  is  hoped 
the  necessity  may  be  avoided.  But  no  alternative  seems  to  exist  in 
regard  to. those  coming  from  the  States  overrun,  or  in  the  occupancy 
of  the  enemy.  Without  such  measure,  the  organizations  from  these 
States  will  dwindle  to  extinction  From  them  the  recruits  that  can 
be  procured  come  only  in  organizations  or  their  choice,  and  are  gen 
orally  induced  to  come  forth  from  the  enemy's  lines  by  the  active 
exertio'is  of  officers  interested  in  forming  new  commands.  '  Thii 
power  of  consolidation  has  sometimes,  from  the  necessity  of  the  case, 
been  exercised  by  generals  in  commands,  but  unless  effected  by  con- 
sent, the  Department  has  felt  its  inability  to  regard  them  otherwise 
than  temporary  arrangements,  and  as  leaving  the  old  organizations 
with  their  officers  in  legal  existence.  This  leads  to  the  inconvenienc;; 
of  having  officers  of  the  line  retained  in  commission,  without  apprc- 
priate  commands,  and  in  every  way  causes  complaint  and  confusion. 
In  an  indirect  way,  the  power  is,  indeed,  possessed,  and  under  tlv* 
stress  of  necessity,  has  sometimes  been  exercised  by  the  Department, 
of  effecting  consolidations.  That  is,  by  disbanding  one  of  the  organ- 
izations from  the  same  State,  thus  dismissing  the  officers,  and  leaving 
the  men  liable  to  conscription,  and  then  assigning  the  latter  to  tin: 
other  organization.  The  effect  of  this,  however,  is  to  retain  all  the: 
officers  of  the  one  organization,  while  all  of  the  other  lose  their  com 
missions,  or  if  in  lieu  of  this  plan,  both  organizations  are  disbanded, 
and  the  men  thrown  togeth  r  in  a  new  one,  all  the  mischiefs  and 
demoralizations  resulting  from  elections,  and  a  new  set  of  officers,  are 
2 


18 

hazarded.  It  evidently  would  be  far  better  there  should  be  the'dis- 
cret'on  reposed  either  in  the  commanding  general  or  the  Department 
to  consolidate  directly,  and  let  the  b<  st  officers  from  both  organiza- 
tions be  selected,  either  by  the  Executive,  or  on  the  recommendation 
of  impartial  examining  boards.  Power  should  be  given,  too,  in  such 
<:ascs,  to  permit  such  of  the  officers  not  needed,  who  are  recommended 
«3  deserving,  to  retain  their  commissions,  and  be  subject  to  assfgnment 
to  other  appropriate  duties.  Thus,  as  far  as  practicable,  in  the  painful 
necessity  of  reducing  commands,  efficiency,  in  the  commands  would 
be  reconciled  with  justice  to  the  officers.  ' 

By  the  means  recommended,  all  of  military  capabilities  between 
the  ages  of  eighteen  and  forty-five,  excepting  such  as  the  actual 
needs  of  society  or  the  Government  render  more  serviceable  in  peace- 
ful avocations,  may  be  effectively  devoted  to  active  service  in  the 
But  there  will  still  remain  large  numbers,  of  ages  less  adapted 
h  the  field  but  still  capable  of  arms,  who  may  be  rendered  effective 
«t?  a  reserve,  and  for  purposes  of  local  defence  and  internal  police. 
I  ..  struggle  such  as  the  Confederacy  is  engaged  in,  with  all  the 
dearest  interests  of  the  present  and  future  dependent  on  the  success- 
f i  :  resistance  to  foes  superior  in  numbers  and  material  resources,  and 
animated  by  the  most  malignant  passions  for  our  complete  subjugation 
or  extermination,  all  of  whatever  age,  capable  of  striking  a  blow  or 
ir.ustering  for  defence,  should  be  unhesitatingly  summoned,  as  they 
should  be  prompt  to  answer,  to  the  sacred  duty  of  repelling  the  in- 
vader. The  Confederacy  may  well  be  regarded  as  a  beleaguered  city* 
where  all  capable  should  be  placed  at  the  guns,  and  all  priveleged  from 
sge  or  infirmity  should  yet  minister  to  the  common  safety.  The 
ruthless  policy  v  recently  adopted  by  the  enemy,  of  cavalry  raids 
through  important  districts  of  country,  with  the  nefarious  purposes 
of  destruction  and  devastation,  that  by  depriving  of  the  means  of 
production  and  subsistance  the  helpless  and  dependent,  they  may 
compel  to  submission  the  men  they  have  feared  to  confront  or  been 
unable  to  subdue,  render  more  clear  and  imperative  the  duty  of  thus 
organizing  and  preparing  our  reserve  population.  These  raids,  hither- 
to made  with  little  danger  through  extensive  but  sparsely  populated 
districts,  and  prosecuted  rather  in  the  spirit  of  brigan  is  than  of 
soldiers,  might  be  easily  checked  and  punished  by  comparatively  few 
brave  men,  however  little  adapted  to  continuous  service,  if  only  duly 
organized  and  armed.  A  few  instances  of  merited  vengence  from  the 
intended  victims  of  their  rapacity  and  cruelty,  would  effectually  stop 
such  malignant  marauders.  To  accomplish  such  organization,  it  will 
only  be  necessary  to  enforce  as  an  obligation,  the  duty  on  all  capable 
of  arms  to  unite  in  such  companies  as  are  provided  for  voluntary 
engagements  by  the  acts  of  the  21st  of  August,  1861,  and  the  13th 
of  October,  186?..  The  former  contemplated  organizations  for  local 
defence  and  special  service  within  prescribed  districts,  when  the 
members  remained  uninterrupted  in  their  ordinary  avocations,  until 
on  the  occurrence  of  an  emergency  called  by  the  President  into  actual 
service,  and  when,  the  need  had  passed,  were  again  returned  to  their 
civil  pursnits.     While  in  service,  they  are  armed,  paid  and  provided 


1& 

jy  the  Confederate  Government,  and  constitute  a  part  of  the  Pro 
visional  Army,  subject  to  the  military  authority,  and  governed  by  the 
rules  and  articles  of  war.  The  latter  provided  for  mere  defensive  bands 
■of  twenty  or  more,  who,  on  the  approach  of  a  hostile  ineursion,  should, 
with  their  own  arms  and  means,  bravely  seek  to  defend  their  homes 
And  punish  the  spoilers.  It  cast  around  them  the  aegis  of  the  Govern- 
ment, and  recognized  them  as  among  the  authorised  defenders  of 
their  country. 

These  two  laws  rcay  readily  be  adapted  to  a  division  of  the  re 
population  into  two  classes  ;  those  whose  age  and  health  would  si 
service  throughout  the  State,  or  souc  extensive  district,  and  who 
might  be  called  on  for  continuous  service  during  an  emergency,  and 
ihose  who  would  only  be  adapted  to  defensive  or  police  operations 
within  their  counties.  By  this  adaptation,  and  a  compulsory  require- 
ment the  whole  arms-bearing  population  not  in  active  service,  could, 
without  seriously  impairing  the  productive  and  industrial  resources 
of  the  county,  be  organized  as  effective  aids  in  our  great  struggle. 
They  Weald  suffice  to  ensure  defence  and  internal  security  to  each 
State  and  country,  while  the  armies  in  the  field  could  be' employed 
solely  in  overthrowing  the  invading  hosts  of  the  enemy.  A  prouder 
spectacle  would  never  have  been  pi  csen ted  in  history,  than  a  whole 
people  thus  organized  and  armed  prepared,  old  and  young  alike,  at 
home  and  on  their  frontiers,  to  meet  and  repel  their  rapacious  ag- 
gressors. 

The  subject  of  the  exchange  of  prisoners  of  war  has  excited  much 
attention,  and  has  a  painful  interest  to  our  people  and  our    irave  sol- 
diers, whom  the  fortune  of  war  has  thrown  into  the  hands  of  our  ene- 
mies.    It  was  the  desire  of  this  Government,  from  an  early  period  of 
the  war,  to  agree  upon  a  fair  and  equitable  system  of  exchanges.      The 
large  preponderance  of  prisoners  being  on  our  side,  negoti  tti  ms  were 
opened  ami  had  been  nearly    consummated,    the    terms    having    been 
agreed  upon  in  accordance  with  the  views  of  his  Governments  ex- 
pressed by  the    Commissioner  of  the  United  States,     And   under  his 
assurance   of  satisfactory   setttlement,   a  large   number   of  prisoners 
held  by  us  were  delivered  up.      Some  serious  reverses,  however,  just 
then  befalling  us,  and  large  numbers  of  prisoners  being  taken  by   the 
enemy,  they  refused  to   consulate  the  agreement,  and  broke  off  the 
negotiation.     Their  loss  in   prisoners  in   subsequent  military   opera-- 
turns,  especially  in  their  disastrous  defeats  around  this  city,  again 
giving  us  the  preponderance,  a  cartel  of  exchange  was  agreed  on°and 
executed.      Various  efforts  to  obtain   unfair  advantages  by  quibbling 
as  to  its  terms  and  operation  were  made,  and   its   provisions  violated 
by  the  enemy,  but  the  cartel  was  recognized  as  being  in  force  and  ex-- 
ehanges  continued  to   be  made.     Our  reverses   in  July   again   gave 
them,  as  they  claim,  the  preponderance   in  the   number   of  prisoners, 
since  which  time  they   have   openly   disregarded   its  obligations,   and- 
have  now,  upon  false  anfl  flimsy  pretext,  declared  it  to  be  inoperative  J 
All  exchanges  have  now  ceased,  with  little  apparent  prospect    of  re- - 
newal.     The  exchange  of  prisoners  was  desired  on   our  part   for  the  • 
*ake  of  humanity,  to  prevent,  in  accordance  with  the  usages   of  war  • 


20 

among  civilized  nations,  individual  suffering,  as  far  as  practicable. 
And  all  the  obligations  imposed  on  us,  as  to  the  treatment  of  prisoners 
and  exchange,  by  such  usages  and  the. cartel  of  exchange,  have  been 
fulfilled  on  our  part  with  entire  and  scrupulous  good  faith,  while  the 
course  of  our  enemies  has  been  marked  by  perfidy  and  a  disregard  of 
their  engagements  and  the  dictates  of  humanity. 

The  report  of  Mr.  Ould,  our  Commissioner  of  Exchange,  which 
accompanies  this,  will  fully  explain  the  present  position  of  this 
interesting  subject. 

It  is  gratifying  to  be  able  to  report  that,  during  the  past  year,  the 
ordnance  and  mining  bureau  have  steadily  increased  the  production  and 
supply  of  arms  and  munitions.  INothwithstanding  the  serious  in- 
jury, sustained  from  fire  by  one  of  the  leading  establishments 
of  the  Confederacy  for  the  manufacture  of  ordnance,  yet  by 
prompt  repairs  and  the  establishment  of  similar  works  in  other  por- 
tions of  the  Confederacy,  the  manufacture  has  rather  increased,  and 
:is  now  believed  to  be  adequate  to  the  regular  demands  of  the  service. 
•Arms,  too,  of  approved  kinds  are  being  made  with  more  facility,  at 
;m©re  places  and  in  larger  numbers,  than  at  any  previous  time.  Very 
valuable  additions  tv.  our  supplies  of  arms  have  been  made  during  the 
year  by  importations  from  abroad,  and  thus  have  enalled  the  bureau 
promptly  to  repair  the  very  heavy  losses  which  were  sustained  in  the 
disastrous  campaign  in  Mississippi.  But  without  such  aids  in  the  fu- 
ture, unless  unwonted  losses  occur,  confidence  is  felt  in  our  ability, 
by  internal  manufacture,  to  provide  arms  adequate  to  the  demands  of 
our  armies.  In  the  manufacture  of  powder,  balls,  shell,  &c,  progress 
has  been  marked,  and  with  some  addition  in  the  supplies  of  nitre 
from  foreign  sources,  there  will  be  no  want  of  adequate  supplies 
of  superior  quality.  Special  attention  has  been  given  to  the  distri- 
bution of  these  works  in  different  portions  of  the  Confederacy,  so  as 
not  to  leave  our  supplies  dependent  on  single  disasters.  While  not 
yet  wholly  independent  in  the  supply  of  nitre,  there  has  been,  until 
very  recently,  marked  increase  in  its  production.  That  increase  has, 
(luring  the  past  year,  nearly  doubled  from  production.  The  tempo- 
rary occupancy  by  the  enemy  of  the  districts  of  the  country  where 
the  richest  deposits  of  nitrous  earth  were  found,  has,  for  the 
present,  diminished  the  production,  but  it  is  encouraging  to  know, 
that  the  artificial  sources  of  supply,  in  beds  of  nitrous  earth,  will  soon 
begin  to  be  available,  and  much  more  than  supply  the  deficiencies 
which  have  resulted  from  the  operations  of  the  enemy. 

The  mining  operations  in  iron,  lead  and  coal  have  all  been  pushed 
with  remarkable  skill  and  activity,  under  the  direction  of  the  zealous 
head  of  the  nitre  and  minining  bureau,  in  despite  of  all  the  embarrass- 
ments resulting  from  paucity  of  laborers  and  fluctuating  prices,  and 
the  result  has  been  in  each  more  abundant  production,  and  a  betiei 
prospect  of  future  sufficiency,  than  we  have  yet  enjoyed.  A  more 
decisive  exhibtion  of  the  resources  and  exhaustless  capacities  of  en- 
durance possessed  by  the  Confederacy  could  not  well  be  presented 
than  the  decided  increase,  amid  unprecedented  efforts  and  sacrifices 
in  the  field  and  numberless  impediments  in  procuring  machinery,  labor 


21 

and  supplies,  of  all   the  great  manufactures  essential  for  successful 
defence. 

The  quartermaster  and  commissary  generals,  in  the  administration 
of  their  respective  departments,  have  had,  during  the  past  year,  ex- 
traordinary difficulties  and  embarrassments  to  encounter.     The  man- 
ufacturing operations  of  the  former,  as  in  the  other  bureaus,  have  in- 
deed been  conducted  on  a  large  scale,  with  more  economy  of  material 
and  with  greater   skill  and   energy,  than   at  past   periods,  and   have 
made  more  nearly  the  supplies   for  the  army  from  internal  resources. 
but   still  for    some    essential  articles,  such    as    shoes,  blankets    and 
woolen   cloths,  partial   dependence    on     importations    could    not    be 
avoided,      In  these  articles  it  can  scarcely  be   expected  that   domestic 
production    can     be   increased,    for,  under    the    wasting    consump- 
tion of  war.  the  production   of  the   raw  material   is    more  likely    to 
be    diminished    than    increased.      But  the    difficulties   of    both "  the 
the  quartermaster  and  commissary  generals   have  been  most  grave  in 
the  large  necessary  purchases   and  transportation   of  forage  and  sub- 
sistence      The  abstraction   of  so  much  male   labor  from  culture,  and 
the  barbarous  ravages  of  the  enemy  pursued  with   a  systematic   view 
to  curtai    our  resources  by  spoliation  and   destruction,  combined  with 
unfavorable  seasons,  to  limit,  almost  beyond  precedent,  the  production 
of  these  essential  articles.      The  scarcity,  too,  was  greatest  in   one  or 
two  of  the  States  nearest  to  our  largest  armies,  and  the  necessity  for 
months  of  sustaing  almost  entirely  the  armies  of  northern  Virginia 
from  supplies   of  corn  drawn  from   South  Carolina   and  Georgia,  will 
strikingly  illustrate  both  the  dearth  and  the  difficulty  of  supplying  it. 
Atone  time  it   was  thought  necessary  to   make  appeal   direct  to  "the 
feelings  and  patriotism   of  the  people  for   the  prompt  rendition  of  all 
surplus  of  supplies  for  subsistence,  and  it  is  a  grateful  duty  to  ac- 
knowledge, that  they  who  have  never  failed  to  recognize  as  their  own 
the  cause  of  the  Confederacy,  with   zeal  and  emulation  met  the  exi- 
gencies of  the  case,  and,  in  very  many  instances,  stinted  themselves 
and  their  dependents   to  supply   the  army.     It  is  most  creditable  to 
these  departments  that  they  have  been  able,  amid  the  real  deficiencies 
existing  and  the  many  hindrances  from  distance,  defective  transporta- 
tion and.  other  causes,  to  keep  the  armies  at  all  times  moderately  sup- 
plied, and  even  able  to  make  all  the  movements  in  the  field  which  the 
exigencies  of  the  campaign  demanded.      How  long  their  exertion  will 
avail  to  assure  such  results,  it  must  bo  confessed,  is  now  a  matter  of 
grave  anxiety.     The  consumption   of  all  animal  life  in  the  war  has 
been  very  great,  and,   in   addition,  during  the  past  few  months,  de- 
structive and  widespread  disease  has  prevailed    among    the    swine 
which  constitute  the  most  serviceable,  as  well  largest  resource  for  meat. 
i>acon  and  beef  must,  in  view  of  the  needs  of  both  the  army  and  the 
people,  be  scarce  during  the  coming  year.     It  is  confidently  believed 
indeed,  that  there  is  a  sufficiency  of  meat  in  the  Confederacy  to  afford 
a  reasonable  supply  to  the  array,  and  yet  sustain  the  people  likewise, 
but  to  attain  such  result,  it  must  be  husbanded  with'  care,  and  used 
with  more  economy  than  our  people  have  been  accustomed  to  practice. 
ine   supplies  of  hay    and    long  forage  generally   are  likewise    an* i 


22 

doubtedly  scant,  for  these  articles  are  not  habitually  produced  in  su- 
perabundance in  the  Confederacy,  and  the  season  has  been  decidedly 
unfavorable.  Many  substitutes  for  the  better  kind  of  long  forage- 
may  be  readily  found  on  plantations,  and  it  is  hoped  the  people  will 
recognize  the  necessity  of  parting  with  the  best  of  their  stores  for 
the  use  of  the  animals  exposed  to  the  much  harsher  toils  and  labors 
of  the  service.  This  is  the  more  necessary,  as  another  of  our  imme- 
diate needs  is  the  due  supply  of  horses  for  cavalry  and  artillery,  in- 
dispensable arms  of  the  service.  Our  safety  demands  that  we  pre- 
serve our  horses  during  the  rigors  of  the  winter,  and  in  a  condition 
to  resume  efficient  service  in  the  spring,  as  it  would  then  be  next  to 
impossible  to  replace  them. 

But  the  gravest  difficulty  encountered  by  the  purchasing  department 
is,  that  the  only  mode  of  obtaining  supplies  available  to  them  is 
impressment.  The  inflation  of  the  currency,  and  the  insatiable  thirst 
for  gain  and  speculation  induced  by  it,  have  caused  inordinate 
enchancement  of  the  prices  of  all  products,  and  a  yet  continuing 
advance,  stimulated,  in  part,  by  the  increasing  volume  of  the  cur- 
rency, and  in  part  by  the  sordid  calculation  of  large  gains  from  hoard- 
ing by  holders  or  speculators.  To  this  has  likewise  contributed  some 
distrust,  not  of  the  cause  of  the  Confederacy,  but  of  its  future  ability, 
however  earnest  its  desire  to  preserve  its  credit  and  good  faith,  to 
redeem  the  large  issues  which  such  enhancements  of  price  rendered 
inevitable.  The  consequences  have  been  an  almost  universal  repug- 
nance on  the  part  of  producers  and  holders  to  sell  at  any  price,  except 
under  compulsion.  This  evil  had  begun  to  manifest  itself  before  the 
close  of  the  last  Congress,  to  such  a  degree,  that  some  legislative 
remedy  was  recognized  to  be  indispensable.  To  buy  at  current 
prices  was  seen  to  be  suicidal  to  the  credit  of  the  Government, 
to  swell  its  indebtedness,  in  a  brief  period,  beyond  its  utmost  capa- 
cities for  redemption,  and,  at  the  same  time,  to  raise,  by  daily  acces- 
sions, the  advancing  scale  of  extravagant  prices,  until  both  the  fears 
and  interest  of  the  holders  would  forbid  sales  at  all.  Under  these 
circumstances,  Congress  devised  and  authorized  a  system  of  impress- 
ment of  all  property  required  "for  the  good  of  the  service,"  or  the 
■accumulation  of  adequate  supplies  for  the  army,  at  the  same  time 
recognizing,  that  under  the  exceptional  circumstances  of  the  country, 
and  the  disturbance  of  the  ordinary  laws  of  trade  regulating  supply 
and  demand,  current  prices  constituted  no  criterion  of  just  compen- 
sation required  by  the  Constitution  to  be  allowed  for  the  appropria- 
tion of  private  property  to  public  uses.  Congress  provided  for  the 
ascertainment  of  such  just  compensation  by  reference,  in  the  first 
instance,  in  part  to  local  appraisers,  and  then  to  two  commissioners  to 
be  appointed  for  each  State,  one  by  the  Governor  and  the  other. by 
the  President  of  the  Confederacy.  These  officers  combining,  by  their 
appointment,  the  sanction  of  the  State  and  Confederate  authorities, 
were  not  only  to  entertain  appeals  from  local  appraisements,  but,  from 
time  to  time,  to  ascertain  and  prescribe  fair  rates  of  valuation  to 
govern  in  impressments.  As  there  seems  no  other  alternative,- this 
was,  perhaps,  as  judicious  an  arrangement  on  this  delicate  and  difficult 


subject  as  was  practicable,  and  on  it  the  Government  has  been  com- 
pelled to  rely  aimost  exclusively  during  the  past  year.  This  resource, 
operating  with  increasing  stringency  and  strain,  is,  at  this  time,  its 
only  reliance.  The  evils  attending  it,  are,  however,  very  great,  and 
only  less  than  the  failure  or  deficiency  of  supplies,  which,  so  far,  it 
has  managed  to  avert.  Impressment  is,  evidently,  a  harsh,  unequal 
and  odious  mode  of  supply.  With  the  utmost  forbearance  and  con- 
sideration, even  its  occasional  exercise  is  narrating  and  irritating  : 
but  when  it  has  to  prevail  as  a  general  practice,  to  be  exercise  I 
inquisitorially  and  summarily  in  almost  every  private  domain,  by  ii 
multitude  of  subordinate  officers,  it  becomes  beyond  measure  offensive 
and  repugnant  to  the  sense  of  justice  and  prevalent  sentiment  of  our 
people.  It  has  been,  perhaps,  the  sorest  test  of  their  patriotism  and 
salf-sacrificing  spirit  afforded  by  the  war,  and  no  other  people,  it  is 
believed,  would  have  endured  it,  without  undue  manifestations  of  dis- 
content and  resistance.  It  has  caused  much  murmuring  and  dissatis- 
faction;  but  a  knowledge  of  the  necessities,  which  alone  justified  !:., 
has  caused  the  outcry  to  be  directed  rather  to  the  mode,  and  as  alleged, 
occasional  excesses  of  its  exercise,  than  against  the  system  itself. 
Casual  irregularities  and  abuses  in  the  use  of  such  a  power,  by 
numerous  agents  in  so  many  quarters,  may  not  be  wholly  unavoida- 
ble, but  every  effort  to  obtain  information  respecting  them,  and  to 
afford  prompt  correctives,  has  been  earnestly  made  by  the  Depart- 
ment. As  to  the  mode  of  action,  great  misapprehension  1ms  pre- 
vailed. It  has  been  supposed  that  it  was  the  systen.  of  the  Depart- 
ment to  attempt  to  regulate  the  prices  for  the  public,  according  to  the 
schedule  rates  prescribed  by  the  State  appraisers,  by  impressing  tin* 
"products  held  by  all  who  sold  at  higher  rates,  and  in  like  spirit  to 
keep  supplies  from  baing  enhanced  in  price  by  the  competition  of 
consumers  in  the  large  large  cities,  by  the  impressment  of  all  supplies 
in  transitu  to  anarket,  unless  the  holders  would  agree  to  sell  afl 
schedule  prices.  To  this  supposed  policy  was  ascribed  the  great 
enhancement  of  prices  in  the  markets  of  the  cities,  and  the  gravest 
apprehensions  of  want  were  entertained  by  many,  from  the  alleged 
exclusion  of  free  supplies  to  the  cities.  The  orders  and  instruction! 
of  the  Department  had  been,  in  fact,  against  such  policy,  and  the 
republication  and  reiteration  of  the  regulations  on  the  subject,  which 
had  been  made  soon  after  the  initiation  of  the  system,  have,  it  is 
hoped,  removed  such  injurious  impressions.  At  the  same  time,  it  is 
found,  as  throughout  it  had  been  feared  by  the  Department,  that  the 
scarcity  and  high  prices  of  supplies  in  the  markets  of  the  country 
have  not  been  due  to  the  law  of  impressment,  or  to  the  supj 
policy  under  it.  The  impressment  law  applies  only  to  the  surplus  of 
producers,  and  expressly  exempts  to  them  and  others  the  reasonable 
supplies  they  may  have  or  obtain  for  the  consumption  of  themselves^ 
their  families,  or  dependants.  Thus  all  consumers  are  privileged 
freely  to  supply  themselves.  All  supplies,  top,  it  is  now  at  least  fully 
known,  are  exempt  in  transitu  to  market,  and  for  a  reasonable  time 
afterwards.  Yet  it  is  found  that  all  prices  have  only  the  more  rapidly 
advanced,  and  are  still  advancing,  and  that  neither  are  the  markets  of 


24 

iae  cities  adequately  supplied,  nor  can  consumers,  by  purchase  at 
current  rates,  without  the  utmost  difficulty,  supply  themselves.  The 
truth  is,  that  the  explanation,  as  the  cause,  is  to  be  found  outside  of 
the  impressment  law,  or  the  action  under  it.  The  real  difficulty  is, 
that  the  price  advancing  from  day  to  day  with  an  accelerated  ratio, 
and  a  steady  depreciation  of  the  currency,  the  holders,  unless  required 
by  positive  necessity,  prefer  to  retain  their  supplies,  and  will  nob  sell 
for  any  temptation  of  present  price.  The  impressment  law  is,  in  fact, 
almost  the  only  corrective  of  this  feeling,  which  would  else  be  well 
nigh  universal.  It  favors  the  supply  of  the  markets  and  of  consumers. 
The  apprehension  that  surplus  products,  if  retained,  may  be  impressed 
by  the  Government,  at  the  rates  prescribed  by  the  State  appraisers, 
constitutes  the  strongest,  as  it  is  nearly  the  only,  inducement  to 
holders  to  sell  at  market  rates.  Setting  aside  feelings  of  humanity 
?.nd  patriotism,  which,  to  a  creditable  degree,  may  induce  sales,  and 
testing  the  matter  by  the  general  motive  of  self-interest  alone,  this  is 
ft  plain  matter  of  calculation.  Who  would  sell,  unless  forced  by  a 
present  necessity  for  the  money,  when  constant  advance  in  the  price 
of  the  product  is  sure,  attd  the  money,  if  received  at  once,  is  no  less 
Certain  of  its  depreciation  before  the  occasion  of  its  future  use.  The 
difficulty,  therefore,  with  the  consumer,  as  with  the  Government,  is 
the  redundancy  of  the  currency,  and  the  consequent  steady  inflation 
of  prices.  This,  in  its  direct,  and  even  more,  in  its  indirect  influences, 
not  merely  on  the  market  and  on  the  property  of  citizens,  but  on  their 
instincts  of  selfishness,  or  their  sentiments,  tastes  and  aspirations,  is 
a  fearful  evil,  and  more  demoralizing  to  our  people  than  the  more  dire 
calamities  of  Mar.  It  pertains  to  another  branch  of  the  Government, 
and  to  an  abler  mind,  to  portray  this  subject  in  its  true  colors,  and  to 
propose  correctives;  but  as  the  mischief  weighs  as  a  paralysis  on  the 
energies  of  this  Department,  I  may  be  excused  for  saying,  that,  in 
my  judgment,  the  sole  effective  remedy  is  prompt  reduction  of  the 
existing  issues  to  the  amount  needed  for  currency  by  the  people  of 
the  Confederacy,  and  the  inflexible  determination  and  pledge  never  to 
exceed  it.  No  mode  of  utilizing  the  credit  of  the  Confederacy  can 
be  so  wasteful,  as  the  enhancement  of  all  prices  by  a  constantly 
increasing  ratio,  or  so  mischievous  as  the  subversion,  of  the  standard 
of  values,  tempting  all  into  the  wild  whirl  of  speculation,  and  corrod- 
ing by  the  vile  greed  of  gain  all  the  nobler  elements  of  character.  If 
the  present  system  be  continued,  prices,  already  many  hundred  per 
cent,  above  true  values,  must  be  indefinitely  enhanced,  the  credit  of  the 
Government  must  be  wrecked  utterly,  and  no  alternative  left  for  the 
continuance  of  our  patriotic  struggle,  and  the  preservation  of  our 
lives  and  liberties,  but  grinding  taxation,  and  the  systematized  seizure, 
without  present  compensation,  of  all  supplies  needed  for  the  employees, 
t'.s  well  as  the  armies  of  the  Confederacy. 

The  necessity  of  reliance  on  impressment,  as  the  ordinary  mode  of 
supply,  it  is  trusted  will,  by  judicious  legislation,  soon  be  obviated  ; 
but  as  it  may,  at  all  times,  be  of  occasional  necessity  and  employment, 
it  is  desirable  that  the  law  should  be  perfected  in  some  of  its  features. 
In  the  confidence  felt,  with  justice   in  the   main,  in   the  deference  of 


25 

• 

our  people  for  law,  and  in  their  patriotic  disposition  to  comply  with 
the  requirements  for  their  defence,  Congress  has  made  imperfect  pro- 
vision as  to  the  mode  of  procedure  for  its  enforcement,  especially  when 
evaded  or  resisted.  It  is  very  important  that  the  enforcement  of  all 
laws,  even  those  having  direct  connection  with  military  affairs,  should 
not  look  to,  or  be  dependent  in  the  first  instance  on,  the  sanction  of 
armed  force,  but  should  be  attained  by  civil  procedure*,  and  thr  regu- 
lar administration  of  justice.  The  absence  of  such  provisions  in  this 
law  has  compelled  the  Department  to  frame  and  issue  regulations 
assimilating  the  proceedings  to  civil  administration,  which  regulations 
partake  more  the  character  of  legislation  than  is  felt  to  be  appropriate 
to  military  orders.  They  have  been  acquiesced  in  with  commendable 
recognition  of  their  aim  by  the  public,  but  it  is  preferable  they,  or  more 
prefect  provisions,  should  have  the  legislative  sanction. 

The  tax  in  kind,  which  was  adopted  in  some  measure  to  obviate  the 
issue  of  notes  and  the  resort  to  impressment,  has  been  as  yet  but  mea- 
surably operative;  but  beneficial  results  have  so  far  followed,  and  greater 
are  expected  to  flow  from  its  application.  Delays  have  resulted,  it  is 
believed,  from  inevitable  causes  for  the  most  part,  in  the  lists  of  assess- 
ment to  be  made  by  the  officers  of  the  Treasury,  and  handed  over  to 
the  quartermasters.  To  obviate  these,  and  realize  early  supplies, 
invitations  were  extended  to  all  producers  to  deliver  spontaneously  to 
the  quartermasters  and  commissaries,  what  they  considered  as  their 
tythes,  for  which  receipts  would  be  given,  to  be  allowed  in  evidence  of 
delivery  on  the  future  reception  of  the  assessor's  lists.  To  some 
extent,  this  invitation  has  been  responded  to,  and  has  relieved,  so  far, 
the  Department  from  the  necessity  of  impressing  supplies,  and  had 
lightened  the  labor  of  future  deliveries.  Owing  to  reluctance,  how- 
ever,  generally  felt  by  producers,  either  to  indicate  the  extent  of  their 
crops,  or  to  prepare  them  for  market,  from  both  the  fear  of  impress- 
ment, and  the  indisposition  to  sell,  deliveries  before  assessment  have 
been  less  prevalent  than  was  anticipated.  It  is  yet  too  early  to  form 
any  reliable  estimates  of  the  amounts  of  supplies  that  may  be  counted 
on  from  this  tax,  but  it  is  certain  that  the  loss  of  several  productive 
districts,  the  wanton  ravages  of  the  enemy  in  others,  and  an  unfavor- 
able season  for  growth  in  considerable  regions  of  the  Confederacy, 
must  materially  lesson  the  supplies  that  were  calculated  on  from  this 
source.  Enough  has  been  realized  to  justify  the  wisdom  (f  tic  impo- 
sition of  this  tax.  and  as  earnest  injunctions  have  been  given  to  both 
assessors  and  collectors  to  expedite,  as  far  as  practicable,  their  opera- 
tions, it  is  hoped  sufficient  returns  may  be  obtained,  at  en  early  day, 
to  direct  the  future  legislate  n  of  Congress  to  the  attainment  of  larger 
supplies  by  this  mode  of  taxation.  Its  increase  would  evidently  con- 
tribute to  the  financial  relief  of  the  government,  while  a  larger  con- 
tribution in  kind,  if  only  equitably  apportioned  in  comparison  with 
the  impositions  on  other  classes,  would  probably  prove  to  the  producers 
the  most  acceptable  mode  of  taxation. 

The  inflation  of  the  currency  and  inordinate  prices  of  all  supplies, 
have  caused  to  the  Department  a  painful  embarrassment  from  the 
inadequacy  of  the  salaries  and  allowances  to  its  clerks  and  employees, 


26 

to  maintain  them.  Single  men  in  such  positions  are  barely  able  to 
subsist  on  their  official  compensation,  and  those  with  families,  when 
wi'hout  other  means,  have  been  obliged  to  yield  their  places,  depend 
on  the  charity  of  friends,  or  suffer  dire  privations.  Cases  of  such 
real  suffering  have  resulted  from  this  cause,  that  it  would  be  culpable 
remissness,  or  unfeeling  obduracy,  not  to  urge  earnestly  a  more  just 
provision  fir  them.  Their  whole  time  and  labor  are  given  with  a  zeal, 
devoticfn,  and  industry,  rarely  surpassed,  to  the  toilsome  and  unosten- 
tatious duties  of  the  bureaus  and  offices.  Means,  at  least,  of  subsis- 
tence and  lodging  should  be  accorded  without  delay,  by  the  Government, 
to  such  faithful  laborers. 

The  administration  of  the  Department,  in  all  its  extensive  opera- 
tions, has  been  greatly  impeded  by  the  deficiency  of  transportation, 
especially  on  the  railroads.  Shut  off  from  the  sea,  and  with  command 
of  very  few  of  its  rivers,  the  Confederacy  is  dependent  almost  wholly 
on  the  railroads  for  communication  and  transportation.  The  roads 
were  not  constructed  with  reference  to  such  extensive  needs,  and  even 
in  time  of  peace,  with  all  facilities  of  supplies  and  repairs,  would  have 
been  inadequate  to  such  duties.  How  much  less  in  time  of  war,  with 
every  drawback  of  deficient  labor,  insufficient  stock,  defective  machinery 
and  scant  supplies,  and  with  exposure  often  to  seizures  or  spoliations 
by  the  enemy,  could  they  be  expected  to  meet  such  unprecedented 
requirements.  It  must  be  matter  of  surprise  and  gratification, 
that  they  have  sustained  themselves  so  well,  and  have  afforded  to  the 
Government  and  the  people  the  measure  of  accommodation  they  have. 
It  is  but  a  just  tribute  to  them  to  say,  that  in  the  main,  they  have 
been  managed  in  a  patriotic  spirit,  and  have  rarely  failed  to  meet  the 
requirements  of  the  government  with  alacrity  and  zeal.  It  has  not 
been  necessary  during  the  year  to  exercise  the  large  discretionary 
powers  of  control  vested  by  Congress  in  the  Executive  over  the  rail- 
roads, for  if  repugnancy  existed  to  the  just  demands  of  the  Govern- 
ment, the  known  possession  of  such  powers  has  sufficed  to  exact  com- 
pliance. But  while  the  dispositions  of  the  railroad  companies  have 
been  good,  their  means  have  been  gradually  becoming  less.  The  Gov- 
ernment has  already  given  to  many  some  aid,  but  will  have  hereafter 
to  render  fuller  and  more  constant  assistance.  Some  of  the  minor 
roads  will  have  to  be  sacrificed  to  keep  up  the  tracks  of  the  leading 
lines.  Iron  will  have  to  be  provided  and  rolled  for  machinery,  and 
the  construction  and  repair  of  locomotives  and  rolling  stock.  Skilled 
mechanics,  to  some  extent,  will  have  to  be  furnished  from  the  amy, 
and  for  some  of  the  more  delicate  machinery  needed  by  them,  importa- 
tions from  abroad  may  have'  to  be  attempted.  With  these  aids,  it  is 
hoped  thej  may  not  only  be  maintained,  but  improved  in  their  means 
of  transportation.  The  lowest  point  of  depresston  has  probably 
passed.  For  the  first  year  or  more,  under  the  delusive  expectation  of 
the  early  termination  of  the  war,  the  companies  relied  almost  wholly 
on  their  existing  stock,  and  made  few  efforts  at  supply  or  reparation. 
They  scarcely  husbanded  their  resources,  which,  under  the  exhausting 
demands  made  on  them,  became  greatly  diminished.  Of  late,  with 
more  experience,  a  wiser  prescience  guides  their  management,  and, 


27 

besides  practising  economy  of  means,  they  are  sedulously  engaged  in 
endeavoring  to  increase  their  stock,  and  to  provide  for  the  contingen- 
cies of  future  service  or  loss.  In  their  best  estate,  they  will  not  be 
able  to  furnish  adequate  facilities  of  transportation  for  both  the  Gov- 
ernment and  the  people.  From  considerations  of  public  utility  and 
supreme  duty,  as  well  as  from  their  dependence  on  the  aid  of  the  gov- 
ernment, they  should  be  required  by  law.  as  nearly  all  have  engaged 
by  contract,  to  give  preference,  in  all  cases,  to  Government  freight,  so 
as  to  command  all  their  means  of  transport,  when  necessary.  Beyond 
that,  it  is  the  fixed  rule  of  the  Department  to  make  r.o  exaction  on 
them,  and  to  attempt  no  regulation  of  their  surplus  means  of  transpor- 
tation, or  to  award  no  special  privileges  to  any  in  their  use,  but  leave 
such  free  to  the  discretion  and  management  of  their  officers.  On  this 
subject  misconception  has  often  prevailed,  and  the  charge  of  favoritism 
has  been  alleged  against  the  Department,  but  on  no  point  has  inflexi- 
bility been  mor3  steadfastly  maintained,  and  all  special  privileges 
denied. 

It  will  have  been  noted,  that  in  nearly  all  the  branches  of  supply, 
we  are  not  yet  exempt  from  dependence,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent, 
on  foreign  importations.  These  can  only  be  obtained  by  the  com- 
mand of  sterling  funds  or  exchanges  on  foreign  countries,  and  be 
introduced  by  evasion  of  the  existing  blockade.  Without  credit  in 
foreign  countries  so  established  as  to  enable  the  Government  to  borrow 
without  great  sacrifice,  if  at  all,  and  with  the  difference  of  exchange 
appreciating  daily  to  a  ruinous  rate,  it  became  early  apparent  to  me 
that  recourse  must  be  had  to  our  great  staple  products,  which  in  the 
markets  of  the  world  were  readily  exchangeable  for  coin.  They  had 
only  to  be  placed  abroad,  and  the  same  means  which  exported  them 
would  serve  for  the  necessary  importations.  The  business  of  evading 
the  blockade  had  previously  been  in  private  hands  alone,  and  while 
precarious,  had  been,  under  skilful  charge,  a  source  of  enormous 
profits.  So  excessive  had  become  the  rates  of  freight  and  exchange. 
that  on  calculation  it  was  found,  that  the  mere  charge,  independent  of 
the  cost  of  the  cargo,  for  the  freightage  of  a  steamer  of  three  hundred 
tons  from  the  West  India  Islands  to  one  of  our  ports,  were  to  the 
Government  upwards  of  two  millions  of  dollars  in  its  currency.  Un- 
d:r  these  circumstances,  the  Department  did  not  hesitate  to  inaugurate 
the  plain  policy  of  evading  the  blockade  with  steamers  purchased  and 
run  by  its  officers.  The  limited  means  at  the  command  of  the  Depart- 
ment abroad,  which  could  be  spared  foim  the  necessity  of  procuring 
immediate  supplies,  were  employed  in  purchasing  several  steamers. 
These,  under  competent  officers,  were  at  once  engaged  in  exporting 
cotton  and  importing  supplies.  The  number  which  the  means  of  the 
Department  could  command  were  far  too  few  to  meet  its  requirements, 
and  contracts  vere  made  with  capitalists  to  provide  and  engage  in  the 
trade,  other  steamers,  in  which  the  Department  took  an  interest,  to 
be  paid  for  in  cotton,  either  to  be  delivered  here  or  to  be  exported  in 
them.  In  this  way,  while  more  vessels  werfc  induced  to  venture  in 
the  business  of  evading  the  blockade,  a  controlling  influence  was 
secured  over  the  importations  made  in  them  for  private  account.     This 


28 

0 

constituted  an  important  consideration  for  the  public  good,  as  under 
the  temptations  merely  of  private  interest,  it  had  been  found  that  to 
a  great  extent,  articles  of  mere  luxury  or  noxious  use,  as  liquors,  from 
the  superior  profits  they  afforded,  rather  than  goods  of  real  utility  to 
the  people,  were  introduced  by  the  steamers  of  private  traders.  The 
steamers  owned  by  the  Department,  four  in  number,  were,  for  a  long 
time,  run  between  Wilmington  and  the  Islands  with  signal  success, 
and  almost  the  regularity  of  packets.  The  profits  by  the  outward 
and  the  saving  by  the  inward  trips  to  the  Department  were  very  great,  . 
as  at  each  trip,  according  to  the  current  rates,  the  value  of  the  vessel 
was  fully  reimbursed.  It  is  a  moderate  calculation  to  estimate  the 
gain  thus  effected  for  the  Department,  as  upwards  of  twenty  millions 
of  dollars  in  currency.  Still  the  quantity  of  cotton  which  could  be 
carried  out  by  the  steamers,  owned  or  held  in  part  by  the  Department, 
by  no  means  supplied  the  sterling  which  was  required  abroad  for  the 
wants  of  the  Government,  and  the  experiments  made,  had  only  served 
to  demonstrate  what  resources  for  establishing  credit  and  commanding 
funds  abroad,  could  be  afforded  by  larger  exportations  of  our  staple 
products,  cotton  and  tobacco.  About  the  same  time  too,  the  closing 
of  the  port  of  Charleston  by  the  successful  operations  of  the  enemy 
on  Morris  Island,  caused  apprehensions  that  the  business  of  evading 
the  blockade  would  soon  become  more  difficult  and  precarious.  This 
made  it  more  important  to  place  abroad,  as  rapidly  as  possible,  a  stock 
of  cotton,  which  would  afford  means  of  commanding  large  supplies, 
while  they  could  be  introduced.  The  Department  therefore,  in  con- 
junction with  the  Hon.  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  who  fully  appreciated 
this  mode  of  supplying  the  demands  of  his  Department  for  sterling, 
proposed,  and  succeeded  in  effecting  arrangements  with  the  companies 
and  merchants  engaged  in  evading  the  blockade  on  private  account, 
by  which,  on  fair  terms  of  freight,  payable  partly  in  cotton  here  and 
partly  in  drafts  on  the  cotton  taken  out  by  them,  they  undertook  on 
every  voyage  to  take  out,  some  a  third,  and  some  one  half  of  their 
cargoes  of  cotton  for  the  Government,  and  likewise  placed  at  the  com- 
mand of  the  Government  a  fair  proportion  of  their  capacities  for 
freight  on  the  return  trip,  for  the  importation  of  its  supplies.  The 
Department  was  aided  in  effecting  this  arrangement,  not  only  by  the 
patriotic  feelings  of  the  private  owners,  but  also  by  tb.e  facilities  it 
was  enabled  to  afford  them  in  commanding  cargoes  of  cotton  without 
unnecessary  delays,  through  the  preference  in  transportation  given  by 
the  railroads  to  cotton  ordered  by  the  Government.  Hence  in  view  of 
the  importance  of  continuing  these  arrangements  with  private  mer- 
chants, it  has  become  more  than  ever  essential  that  the  priority  of 
transportation  on  the  railroads  should  be  maintained  to  the  Govern- 
ment, for  under  present  laws,  by  that  preference  alone  can  these 
arrangements  for  the  exportation  of  cotton  be  continued. 

These  arrangements  "were  made  in  good  time,  for,  as  anticipated, 
the  blockade  of  Wilmington,  the  port  of  the  Confederacy  best  adapted 
for  evading  the  blockade,  has  been  of  late  more  stringent.  All  the 
blockading  ships  of  the  enemy  have  been  transferred  from  Charleston, 
and,  within  the  last  two  months,  a  considerable  number  of  steamers, 


29 

among  them  those  belonging  to  the  Department,  hive  been  captured, 
or  destroyed  to  prevent  their  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy. 
While  the  risk  is  now  certainly  increased,  still  with  the  additional 
steamers  which  the  contracts  with  the  Government  or  the  temptations 
of  private  gain  has  brought  into  the  trade,  it  is  believed  the  blockade 
may  be  evaded,  so  far  as  to  add  greatly  to  our  resources  abrosd  from 
the  exportation  of  our  staple,  and  to  bring  in  the  supplies  needed  by 
the  Government.  Measures,  meantime,  are  being  taken  to  inert 
the  facilities  of  entrance  into  the  port,  by  the  use  of  moveable  batte- 
ries of  Whitworth  guns,  of  long  range,  along  the  coast,  and  to  endan- 
ger the  safety  of  the  blockading  vessels 

So  long  as  our  staples  can  be  exported,  and  supplies  introduced  with 
reasonable  exemption  from  capture,  there  cannot  be  a  question  of  the 
policy  of  pursuing  the  venture,  and  when  all  the  advantage  to  our 
credit  abroad,  and  to  our  means  of  resistance  within  the  Confederacy, 
are  estimated,  it  may  be  well  questioned  whether  the  whole  trade 
should  not  be  subjected  by  law  to  equitable  regulation,  so  as  to  secure 
l  to  the  Government  a  fair  proportion  of  the  profits  resulting  from  all 
1  shipments.  As  the  trade  could  not  be  carried  on  at  a'l  except  to  for- 
tified cities,  and  through  the  special  protection  afforded  by  the  arma- 
ments of  the  government,  the  benefits  derived  by  the  Government 
would  be  only  a  reasonable  return.  The  regulation  of  the  tra  le, 
both  to  secure  a  participation  in  the  profits  to  the  Government,  and 
to  require  the  introduction  mainly  of  articles  of  use  or  necessity,  in- 
stead of  luxuries  and  noxious  liquors,  it  is  believed  i;  demanded  by 
the  general  sentiment  of  the  country,  and  would  be  readily  acquiesced 
in  by  the  sense  of  justice  and  patriotic  feelings  of  the  merchants  en- 
gaged in  the  trade. 

The  business  of  export  and  import  for  the  Department  became  so 
large  and  important  that  it  was  found  necessary  to  devote  officers  of 
the  Department  and  special  agents  at  Wilmington  to  its  management. 
It  has  grown  almost  a  separate  branch  of  administration  in  the  depart- 
ment, and  to  be  nearly  assimilated  to  a  separate  bureau.  While  thus 
it  has  been  conducted  with  success,  some  serious  practical  inconveni- 
ences have  resulted  from  not  having  a  separate  officer  or  bureau  es- 
tablished by  law,  and  specially  charged  with  the  whole  business.  All 
'the  bureaus  depending,  in  some  measure,  on  foreign  supplies,  have 
\  been  interested  in  the  operations  thus  conducted,  and  all  have  had  to 
contribute  out  of  their  appropriations,  according  to  their  interest,  in 
providing  means  for  th-e  purchase  of  ships  and  cargoes,  and,  as  under 
the  interruptions  of  the  blockade,  the  exact  proportions  in  which  car- 
goes are  furnished  are  not  known  for  a  long  time,  and  when  the  ves- 
sels are  lost  can  never  be  precisely  ascertained,  great  difficulties 
exist  in  settling  and  apportioning  the  credits  an  I  charges  to  each. 
This  is  apt  to  create  dissatisfaction,  as  well  as  irregularities  in  the  ac- 
counts of  each  bureau.  It  would  manifestly  be  simpler  and  more 
satisfactory  that  the  business  should  be  made  a  separate  one,  under 
the  control  of  a  competent  head,  that  appropriations  should  be  made 
directly  for  its  operations,  all  sales  and  purchases  abroad  be  made  un- 
der his  instructions,  and  that,  providing  means  abroad,  he  should  be 


30 

only  called  on  by  the  bureaus  for  their  appropriate  supplies.  When 
it  is  considered  to  what  extent  cotton  and  other  staples  have  to  be 
purchased  and  forwarded  in  the  Confederacy,  arrangements  for  pro- 
curing and  running  ships,  or  contracting  with  the  owners  of  vessels 
in  the  trade  to  be  negotiated,  shipments  and  sales  in  foreign  csuntriea 
to  be  effected,  and  purchases  and  importations  made  from  abroad,  it 
will  be  readily  seen  that  the  business  requires  an  able  head,  and  will 
constitute  by  no  means  the  least  important  branch  of  administration 
pertaining  to  the  Department. 

A  proper  officer,  as  well  as  judicious  regulations,  are  likewise  desi- 
rable for  the  conduct  of  the  trade  in  cotton  and  supplies  between 
Texas  and  Mexico.  The  law  leaves  the  trade  entirely  free,  but  as  the 
export  of  cotton  affords  almost  the  only  means  of  obtaining  supplies 
for  the  trans-Mississippi  department,  the  generals  commanding  there 
have  felt  themselves  under  the  necessity  of  prescribing  regulations 
and  conditions  for  the  conduct  of  the  trade.  This  was  rendered  the 
more  necessary  from  the  limited  means  of  transport  which  could  be 
commanded  and  which,  without  some  restriction,  there  was  danger 
would  be  engrossed  by  private  parties,  eager  to  participate  in  a  most 
lucrative  trade,  or  to  remove  beyond  the  contingencies  of  war,  the 
funds  realized  by  them  from  the  conversion  of  their  property  in  the 
Confederacy.  The  regulations  imposed  by  military  authority  were, 
however,  ragarded  by  many,  whose  pursuit  of  gain  was  hindered,  as 
vexatious  and  illegal,  and  produced  such  complaint  and  dissatisfac- 
tion that  they  were  abrogated  by  the  Department.  The  necessities  of 
that  command  now,  more  than  ever,  require  the  control  of  this  trade 
and  its  direction  to  the  supply  of  funds  and  stores  for  its  military 
needs.  The  trade  should  either  be  carried  on  directly  by  competent 
officers  of  the  Department,  or  conducted  on  conditions  or  by  permits 
that  would  secure  to  the  Government  as  its  results  necessary  credits 
and  supplies  from -abroad.  • 

In  other  points  likewise,  comprehensive  legislation  will  be  required 
for  the  proper  administration  of  the  military  affairs  in  the  trans- 
Mississippi  Department.  Since,  by  the  interuption  of  command  over 
the  Mississippi  river  by  the  enemy,  facilities  of  communication  with 
the  more  eastern  States  and  the  seat  of  Government,  are  greatly 
diminished.  In  anticipation  of  such  contingency,  as  already  stated, 
arrangements,  months  prior  to  our  reverses  in  Mississippi,  had  been 
initiated  by  this  Department  to  make  as  far  as  practicable,  the 
trans-Mississippi  department  self-sustaining,  and  capable  of  separate 
administration.  Foundries,  manufactories  of  arms,  powder  mills  and 
workshops,  as  well  as  exportations  for  mines  and  nitrous  earths  had 
been  instituted,  and  while  some  have  been  already  in  successful  opera- 
tion, others  were  in  progress  of  early  completion.  To  conduct  and 
further  complete  these  various  branches  of  military  administration, 
it  is  desirable  that  separate  offices  under  competent  heads,  should  be 
established.  Indeed,  so  far  is  this  Department  insolated  and  severed 
from  direct  communication  with  the  Department  here,  that  it  is  deemed 
judicious,  some  extraordinary  powers  of  military  administration  should 
he  entrusted  to  the  general  commanding,   and   that  office  assimilated 


31 

to  the  Bureau  of  the  Department  here,  under  his  immediate  super- 
vision, yet  reporting  as  opportunities  offer  to  the  heads  of  the  corres- 
ponding Bureaus  here,  so  as  to  preserve  harmony  and  conformity  of 
action,  should  he  constituted  by  law.  A  separate  office  should 
certainly  be  established  there  for  the  conscript  service,  and  either  the 
conscripts  be  directed  to  be  appropriated  entirely  to  the  organizations 
west  of  the  Mississippi  river,  or  some  ratio  of  apportionment,  as  well 
as  mode  of  sending  recruits  to  the  organizations  on  this  side,  be  pre- 
scribed. It  may  be  necessery,  too,  to  give  some  unusual  power  of 
recommending  and  assigning  offic  >rs  to  service,  subject  to  the  future 
approval  and  action  of  the  Executive.  By  these  means,  it  is  believed 
that  serious  embarrassments  and  inconveniences  from  the  isolation  of 
that  Department  will  be  remedied. 

It  is  gratifying  to  know  that  the  severance  of  the  States  west  of  the 
Mississippi  from  those  of  the  east,  has  caused,  no  abatement  in  their 
devotion  to  the  Confederaoy,  their  confidence  in  it3  cause,  or  in  their 
spirit  or  resolution  to  achieve  a  common  independence.  Entire  h  ir- 
mony  and  co-operation  prevail  between  the  Confederate  and  State 
authorities  there,  and  in  the  valor  of  their  soldiers,  the  ability  of 
their  generals,  the  patriotism  and  hardy,  resolute  character  ot  their 
people,  the  wide  expanse  and  impracticable  nature  of  their  territories, 
and  the  great,  though  only  partially  developed  resources  of  their 
country,  all  find  an  assured  augury  ot  ultimate  triumph. 

It  is  gratifying  to  be  able  to  state  that  our  relations  with  the 
Indians,  under  the  protection  of  this  Government,  continue  to  be  of 
a  satisfactory  character.  Though  there  have  been  some  instances  of  • 
disturbances  among  individuals,  as  was  to  be  expected  under  the 
machinations  of  our  enemies  and  the  withdrawal  of  our  troops  from 
the  coterminous  territory  under  military  operations  in  adjoining 
States,  yet  Mr.  Scott,  our  Indian  Agent,  who  has  just  returned  from 
a  visit  to,  and  a* sojourn  among  them  of  some  months,  gives  assurance 
that  they  continue  unshaken  in  their  loyalty  to  the  Government,  and 
in  their  devotion  to  our  cause  and  sacred  rights.  His  report  accom- 
panying this,  will  furnished  details  of  interest. 

The  estimates  for  the  expenditures  of  this  Department,  for  the  six. 
months,  from  January  1st,  to  June  3i»th,  1864,  are  herewith  trans- 
mitted. The  amount  is  large,  but,  at  the  existing  rate  of  prices, 
certainly  not  greater  than  is  required  to  maintain  the  armies  cf  the 
Confederacy  in  a  state  of  efficiency.  Indeed,  if  there  be  a  continu- 
ance of  the  constantly  accelerating  advance  in  the  cost  of  all  supplies 
that  has  attended  the  inflation  of  the  past  year,  these  estimates  will 
scarce  prove  adequate  to  the  wants  of  the  Department.  Should, 
however,  there  be  a  reduction  of  the  currency  to  the  actual  needs  of 
the  country  and  its  maintenance  on  a  stable  basis,  these  estimates 
may  be  largely  reduced.  Such  policy  is  the  only  mode  of  correcting 
this,  as  the  many  other  resulting  evils  of  our  redundant  currency. 

Since  the  foregoing  was  written,  the  shifting  fortune  of  war  has 
brought  reverse  to  our  army  in  northern  Georgia,  near  the  theatre  of  its 
late  great  triumph.  While  a  large  portion  of  our  forces  were  engaged 
in  improving  their  victory  by  the   expulsion  of  the  enemy  from  east 


32 

Tennessee,  and  on  the  eve,  as  appeared,  of  entire  success,  the  enemy 
accumulated  large  reinforcements  within  their  beleaguered  lines  at 
Chattanooga.  With  overwhelming  numbers  they  assailed  our  army 
in  position  before  them,  and  though  meeting  bloody  repulses  on 
either  wing,  carried  the  position  when  weakened  in  the  centre. 
This  unexpected  reverse  seems  to  have  caused  something  of  panic  in 
a  portion  of  .our  troops  dreading  to  be  cut  off,  and  led  to  a  hasty  re- 
treat of  the  whole  army  with  considerable  loss  both  in  men  and  mate- 
rial. The  enemy  pressed  their  advantage  with  alacrity,  and  were 
pursuing  with  exultation  and  confidence,  when  they  were  encountered 
by  <  ne  of  our  unshaken  divisions  and  driven  back  with  fearful  loss, 
in  confusion  and  dismay.  This  more  than  checked  their  advance,  for 
it  compelled  the  rapid  retreat  of  their  whole  army,  with  all  the  at- 
tendant indications  of  dreaded  pursuit,  behind  the  lines  of  Chica- 
mauga,  where  they  have  since  remained.  Meantime,  deep  interest 
concentrates  on  the  events  occurring  in  east  Tennessee,  where  it  is 
yet  uncertain  whether  our  disasters  in  front  o/  Chattanooga  may  not 
have  compelled  the  sudden  retreat  of  our  forces,  when  on  the  eve  of 
consummating  their  work,  by  the  capture  of  Knoxville  with  General 
Burn  side  and  his  army. 

Mevements  of  the  enemy  on  the  Rappahannock  have  again  proven 
the  invicible  army  of  Northern  Virginia,  under  its  consummate  com- 
mander, the  sure  bulwark  of  the  capital.  Emboldened  by  some  par- 
tial success,  the  results  to  us  of  incau'.ion  or  over-confidence,  the 
Federal  army  crossed  the  Rapidan  in  full  force  and  with  every  indica- 
tion of  making,  by  battlle,  an  open  way  to  Richmond.  General  Lee 
was  prompt  to  offer  them  the  coveted  opportunity,  but  while  they  ven  • 
tured  to  confront,  they  dared  not  encounter  the  veterans  before  whom 
they  hid  so  often  recoiled  in  defeat  and  humiliation.  After  their 
vaunting  manifestation,  they  have  ignominiously  slunk  off  undercover 
of  night,  and  again  sought  an  rnglorious  shelter  in  their  lines  beyond 
the  river.  • 

A  fair  review  of  the  varied  events  of  the  year  should  cause  no 
abatement  of  confidence  in  the  ultimate  triumph  of  our  cause.  Our 
very  reverses,  as  already  stated,  will  only  demonstrate  to  our  enemies 
the  futility  of  their  aims  and  the  vanity  of  their  hopes.  A  brave 
people,  commanding  a  tcriitory  of  such  extent  and  resources,  never 
have  been,  and  while  true  to  themselves  and  their  liberties,  never  can. 
be  subjugated.  Those  reverses,  however,  admonish  our  people,  as 
they  woul  1  avoid  the  desolating  ravages  and  costly  bloodshed  of  pro- 
tracted war,  to  unite  their  wills  and  concentrate  their  energies  and 
resources  to  the  grand  aim  of  expelling  the  ivader.  We  have  only  to 
will  and  to  dare  as  one  man,  and  our  work  is  sure  of  accomplishment. 
Every  motive  and  incentive  that  can  fire  the  soul  or  nerve  the  arm  of 
man  are  urgent  upon  us.  All  that  is  dear  to  humanity,  property, 
honor,  wives,  children  and  homes — nay,  the  very  lives  of  the  present 
and  the  hopes  of  future  generations,  for  us  are  staked  on  success. 
The  malignant  intents  of  the  foe  would  exterminate  or  debase  us, 
through  the  insolent  lordship  of  our  slaves,  to  the  mastery  of  hie 
brutal  despostism.     No  alternative  exists  but  stern  defiance  and  un- 


33 

iincrung  resistance.  Our  only,  as  our  certain  safety,  is  in  victory. 
Every  impediment  should  be  cast  aside.  The  insatiate  spirit  of  greed 
must  be  exercised.  Distrust  and  despondency  be  displaced  by  the  con- 
fidence of  invincible  resolve  and  the  might  of  a  firm  faith.  Our  means 
without  stint,  and  our  men  without  favor  or  affection,  must  be  ren- 
dered to  the  cause.  Each  man  should  rise  to  the  height  of  a  supreme 
duty,  counting  all  cost  as  gain,  nnd  exulting  in  every  sacrifice  that  shall 
free  us  forever  from  loathsome  association  with  a  despicable  pe< 
tnd  establish  th<:'  Confederacy  of  our  chioce  on  the  basis  of  approved 
strength,  in  permanent  fruition  of  peace,  prosperity  and  independ- 
ence. 

<rectfullv  submitted, 

JAMES  A.  SEDDON. 

Secretary  of  War. 

I 


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